Who are Larry Kramer and Andreas Paepcke? Sam Bankman-Fried's mystery bail backers are Stanford academics
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA: The identity of the mysterious individuals who signed bail for disgraced CEO of failed crypto exchange FTX Sam Bankman-Fried, who has been released on bail, has been revealed. The 30-year-old's arrest was prompted by multiple charges of fraud in his alleged Ponzi social media giant scheme. Still, Bankman-Fried appears to have the support of two former Stanford academics who are likely acquaintances of his parents.
Bankman-Fried's bail was signed by former Stanford Law School Dean Larry Kramer and computer science researcher Andreas Paepcke and totals $700,000, according to court documents,Daily Mail reports. Although Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty, he will go on trial in October to face charges of securities fraud, wire fraud, defrauding investors and misuse of FTX funds.
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Who are Larry Kramer and Andreas Paepcke?
The identities of Bankman-Fried's bail backers were released by order of US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who did so in response to numerous requests from members of the media. According to the Stanford website, Kramer is a former law school dean, while Paepcke is a senior researcher in computer science. The released documents show that Kramer and Paepcke signed bonds of $500,000 and $200,000, respectively, on January 25 to secure Bankman-Fried's return to court.
It is unclear what Bankman-Fried's relationship was to Kramer and Paepcke, but sources speculate that the two may have been acquaintances of the parents of the doomed Cyrpto mogul. Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried are both longtime Stanford law professors, and the duo may have known the two men from the same background. Bankman-Fried's parents also co-signed a separate $250 million contract allowing him to remain under house arrest at the couple's home in Palo Alto, California.
The bonds signed by Kramer and Paepcke are personal recognizance bonds that essentially provide for the forfeiture of funds in the event Bankman-Fried misses his October trial or fails to appear. Recently, Bankman-Fried was ordered to return to a New York courtroom after violating bail conditions. Authorities were alerted to the fact that FTX's CEO was using private Internet access through a virtual proxy network.
Bankman-Fried, however, denied the allegation, while prosecutors claimed the 30-year-old used it to prevent "third parties (such as the government)" from seeing 'which websites a user is visiting or what data is being sent and received online." He later confessed to using the VPN, stating that he was using it to access the NFL Game Pass he had purchased while living in the Bahamas.