Overview
- Federal prosecutors told the court a March 16 letter filed in Sam Bankman-Fried’s name was shipped via FedEx from Palo Alto or Menlo Park rather than from a federal facility.
- The government highlighted multiple discrepancies, including Bureau of Prisons rules that bar private carriers, an incorrectly named facility on the envelope, and a typed "/s/" in place of a handwritten signature.
- Prosecutors said these issues give them "reason to doubt" the letter’s authenticity, while stopping short of alleging fabrication by Bankman-Fried or his associates.
- The letter sought a one-month extension to April 16, citing an expected transfer from FCI Terminal Island and warning of limited access to legal materials during transit.
- Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected a separate extension request written by Bankman-Fried’s mother for lack of standing and independently extended the deadline to March 23, as the family publicly presses a clemency case.