FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried's $250 Million Bail Guarantors Revealed

John Lopez, Tech Times 19 February 2023, 10:02 am

In December 2022, a federal judge in New York released FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on $250 million bail as he awaited trial on fraud and other criminal charges. Prosecutors and Bankman-Fried's legal team discussed the terms of his recognizance bond and reached an agreement.

The announcement came after a month Sam Bankman-Fried said that his bank account had dropped to around $100,000 after the giant crypto exchange sharply collapsed. Fried used to be the CEO of FTX, which was worth a whopping $32 billion.

Until today, it was unknown where he obtained the exorbitant $250 million bail.

Judge Drops Names of Mistery SBF Bail Sponsors

The names of Sam Bankman-Fried's $250 million bail guarantors have been revealed: Larry Kramer and Andreas Paepcke.

Business Insider reports that the identities of the two individuals were released after a coalition of media organizations advocated that they should be made public.

Bankman-Fried's parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, both Stanford Law School professors, also pitched to his bond by guaranteeing the valuation of their home.

Who is SBF's Bail Sponsors?

Here is all the information Insider's research has revealed about Larry Kramer and Andreas Paepcke.

Larry Kramer

Former dean of Stanford Law School
Contributed $500,000 to Bankman-Fried's bond
Graduated from Brown University with AB in psychology and religious studies
Received JD from University of Chicago Law School
Clerk for former US Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr.
Taught at law schools of NYU, University of Chicago, and University of Michigan
President of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
Made at least eight political donations since 2005, all to Democratic politicians

Andreas Paepcke

Research scientist in the computer science department at Stanford University
Contributed $200,000 to Bankman-Fried's bond
Received undergraduate and master's degrees in applied mathematics from Harvard University
Received Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Karlsruhe, Germany
Worked as a researcher at Hewlett-Packard Laboratory and as a research consultant at Xerox PARC
His research revolves around online learning, user interfaces, and systems for teaching and learning.
Conducted research on machine learning technologies and their application to ecological causes
Conducted research on the relationship between video playback speed and learning outcomes, how individuals adjust their engagement in a course based on their grades, and how robots can assist people with disabilities.

Biggest Bail in US History

It is unknown what Paepcke has in connection with Bankman-Fried (or his parents). Meanwhile, Kramer has indicated that he has known SBF's parents since the mid-1990s.

A judge revealed the identities of the bail guarantors after Bankman-Fried was summoned to a New York courtroom by a federal judge assigned to his case. The judge was concerned about SBF communicating with others, which the court cannot monitor - a significant factor in his case given that he is under house arrest.

The $250 million bond is one of the largest ever imposed in the United States, and the guarantors were not immediately identified when the bail was established. Bankman-case Fried's can now proceed with the identities of the guarantors known.