The legal proceedings against Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, did take quite a new turn after District Judge Ronnie Abrams decided to withdraw from the case. The District Court for the Southern District of New York went on to recuse itself from the case after it was revealed that a law firm- which did have Abrams’ husband retained as a partner- had been advising the crypto exchange in 2021.
In a filing made on the 23rd of December, the Judge went on to reveal that her husband, Greg Abrams, was a partner at Davis Polk and Wardwell- which was a law firm where he had been employed since June 2019. It was also brought to light that this particular firm had been advising FTX in the previous year.
Judge Ronnie Abrams Has Recused Herself From The SBF Case
Ronnie Abrams also went on to state that the law firm also represented those parties that could be adverse to SBF and FTX in other legal proceedings. She clarified that her husband had absolutely no involvement in any of the representations- and also mentioned that the matters were completely unknown to the District Court due to the inherent confidentiality in the matter. Yet, in order to maintain a semblance of impartiality, the Court had decided to recuse itself from this particular brand of action.
The withdrawal of Ronnie Abrams from the FTX case does eradicate any and all conflict of interest in this particular case- which does take into consideration the fact that Andres does continue to serve as a partner at the law firm even today. Andres had previously been working as an Assistant US Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, where he had been specializing in criminal fraud prosecutions and foreign bribery investigations.
On the 22nd of December, Sam Bankman-Fried was released on a bail bond that had a sum of $250 million which was based on a written promise that he was to appear for future court appearances and not engage in any activity that could be construed as illegal.
