Key Points:

  • U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan replaces his colleague Ronnie Abrams in the Sam Bankman-Fried criminal case.

  • Judge Ronnie Abrams withdrew from the case because her husband’s law company had previously provided advice to FTX, SBF’s now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange.

After U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams recused herself on Friday, the criminal case against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was shifted to U.S. Judge Lewis Kaplan, according to Reuters.

According to Reuters, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan replaces his colleague Ronnie Abrams, Kaplan is also in charge of high-profile defamation lawsuits against former U.S. President Donald Trump and a sexual abuse lawsuit against Britain’s Prince Andrew.

As Coincu reported in the previous article, Ronnie Abrams overseeing Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) high-profile criminal prosecution withdrew from the case, citing a potential conflict of interest resulting from the fact that her husband’s law company had previously provided advice to FTX, SBF’s now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange.

My husband has had no involvement in any of these representations, Nonetheless, to avoid any possible conflict, or the appearance of one, the Court hereby recuses itself from this action.

Abrams said in a Friday filing

For those unaware, Kaplan was nominated by President Bill Clinton to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by Judge Gerard Louis Goettel on May 5, 1994. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on August 9, 1994, and received his commission on August 10, 1994. He took senior status on February 1, 2011, and was succeeded by Judge Ronnie Abrams.

Bankman-Fried was arrested on December 12 in the Bahamas, U.S. authorities last week charged Bankman-Fried with conspiracy to commit wire fraud on customers, conspiracy to commit wire fraud on lenders, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the United States and violate campaign finance laws.

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