Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the founder and former CEO of now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is resisting an order to testify at cryptocurrency broker Voyager Digital’s bankruptcy hearing.
On Tuesday, SBF’s lawyers asked a federal judge to vacate the order because it was not served properly, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
SBF Fights Voyager Summons
Recall that on February 18, the committee representing Voyager’s unsecured creditors served subpoenas on SBF and other top executives at FTX and Alameda Research. The order requested that they appear in court for a remote depository with the required documents.
crypto potato reported that the other executives who received the subpoenas included FTX co-founder Gary Wang, former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, and FTX head of product Ramnik Aurora, among others.
Subpoenas focus on FTX try to buy Voyager’s assets after the brokerage firm filed for bankruptcy. The latter argued that the purchase attempt was unreasonable as the offer was made to gain publicity for FTX.
Notably, Alameda Research is also trying to raise roughly $446 million from Voyager, related to crypto loans made to the former before the latter went bankrupt.
The summons, served on SBF’s mother in her absence, requests that she appear in person on February 23 at the offices of McDermott Will & Emery in San Francisco. However, before that, SBF was supposed to deliver 49 separate documents before February 20.
An “unreasonable” order
SBF lawyers have asked a federal judge in California to block the warrant, arguing that it was not served properly and may cause the FTX founder to invoke his Fifth Amendment constitutional right to avoid self-incrimination.
The Fifth Amendment, also known as the right to remain silent, ensures that the government does not force anyone to provide incriminating information about themselves. Such a rule is applicable to subpoena orders and other legal processes.
Meanwhile, representatives of Voyager’s unsecured creditors revealed that they were negotiating an agreement to delay the sharing of pre-trial information, including the subpoena. However, SBF’s attorney, Marc R. Lewis, told the judge that he was unsure of the claim.
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