Thoughts tagged "law"

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Dear Judge Kaplan: I am writing to respond to your Memorandum Order of march 23, 2026, requesting me to state whether an attorney wrote either my rule 33 motion or supporting memorandum "in whole or in substantial part." (I am assuming that the inclusion of Mr. Chapsky's accompanying Affidavit was inadvertent, as I neither wrote nor purported to write that.) I conceived of the Rule 33 Motion, formulated the arguments, drafted multiple versions of it myself, and did the bulk of the legal research while I was at MDC Brooklyn and had better access to legal materials as well as a word processor. You asked about the three attorneys of record in other stages of this case; none of them had any significant input into the Rule 33 Motion. I have not discussed it with them or shared any drafts with them. Mr. Mukasey and Ms . Young only represented me in the sentencing phase, and no longer do so . While Ms. Shapiro is still representing me on my appeal, she is not representing me on this matter and I have not consulted her on it. I also shared drafts with my parents, Barbara Fried and Joe Bankman. They made editorial and organizational suggestions, some of which I incorporated into the motion. They also helped print it, as I no longer had access to a word processor. I also shared earlier drafts with a New York attorney who was originally hired to represent me on the Rule 33 Motion before I decided to represent myself; they had no significant input into the ultimate motion. I am the ultimate author of the documents and wrote the bulk of them myself, but can't comment on how you will ultimately interpret the standard in practice. As I have had to focus on responding to these questions rather than drafting a response to the prosecution's opposition, and because I do not believe I will get a fair hearing on this topic in front of you, I am now requesting to withdraw the Rule 33 motion, without prejudice to renewing it after my direct appeal and the related request for reassignment have been ruled upon. Finally, I am the author of this letter, but did consult with my parents about it, since it concerns both of them . Isl Sam Bankman-Fried prose 2026-04-13 Lompoc, CA

Sam Bankman-Fried’s affidavit has arrived. He says his attorneys of record had no input into his motion for a new trial, but that he shared drafts with his parents (both attorneys). “They made editorial and organizational suggestions, some of which I incorporated”

He also writes “As I have had to focus on responding to these questions rather than drafting a response to the prosecution's opposition, and because I do not believe I will get a fair hearing on this topic in front of you, I am now requesting to withdraw the Rule 33 motion” (for a new trial)

The Binance crypto exchange has just filed a defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal over its article reporting that Binance's own compliance investigators had found $1 billion in transfers to Iran-backed terror groups, and then were fired.

The article, and related investigations by the New York Times and Fortune, were cited in an inquiry over the alleged sanctions evasion by Senator Blumenthal, and a request by Sen. Van Hollen and others for an investigation by the Treasury and Justice Departments. Today the WSJ reported that the DOJ had opened such an investigation.

Binance spends much of the filing complaining that news outlets like the WSJ do not give them enough credit for how hard they're trying. I'm not sure bragging about stopping $131M in illicit transfers quite lands when the whole point of this article is that you allegedly allowed 10x that.

Bloomberg has filed their opposition to Justin Sun’s renewed motion for emergency relief, arguing they never promised not to publish the information he and his team provided to them. They also argue that his demands they remove the article about him and prevent them from publishing a second one would violate the First Amendment.

Sun cannot satisfy the requirements for emergency relief: (1) He has no likelihood of success on the merits because Bloomberg never made any promise to him inconsistent with what it published (promissory estoppel) and he has no claim for publication of truthful newsworthy information (public disclosure of private facts). (2) The pre-lawsuit publication of the information moots his irreparable harm allegations, which are in any event misleading and disproved by his own actions. (3) Any prohibition on publication, including a takedown of a report that already has been published, would irreparably harm Bloomberg’s First Amendment right to publish. (4) A prior restraint would thus disserve the public interest.

(Answering brief)

After publication, Sun asked Bloomberg to reduce his supposed ownership of TRX from 60 billion (~63% of circulating supply) to only 8 billion. Bloomberg refused. “[W]e believe Mr. Sun may not want the public to know that he controls a majority of the TRX in circulation”

(Maloney declaration)

Also: I seem to have become an exhibit

(Answering brief, exhibit 5 to Hentoff declaration)

Crypto billionaire Justin Sun’s renewed motion for a temporary restraining order in his lawsuit against Bloomberg seems to confirm my view that the lawsuit was sparked by the disclosure that he controls 63% of the supply of TRX.

1. Requiring Defendants, preliminarily until the hearing, and thereafter indefinitely, to remove the amounts of any specific cryptocurrency owned by Mr. Sun from any of its online publications; 2. Requiring Defendants, preliminarily until the hearing, and thereafter indefinitely, to retract its claim that Mr. Sun owns 60 billion Tronix and controls the majority of its supply; and 3. Enjoining Defendants, preliminarily until the hearing, and thereafter indefinitely, Defendants from publishing the amounts of any specific cryptocurrency owned by Mr. Sun in any future publication.

Sun and Bloomberg had been “engaged in discussions that may moot the emergency relief”, but it sounds like Sun wanted more than they were willing to agree to.

Justin Sun v. Bloomberg

Justin Sun has just filed a lawsuit against Bloomberg, claiming they plan to “recklessly and improperly disclos[e] his highly confidential, sensitive, private, and proprietary financial information,” which he gave to them while they were verifying his assets for inclusion in the Bloomberg “Billionaires Index”.

Sun claims this will cause him “significant and irreparable harm—both financially and physically.” He says they plan to use the information in an article unrelated to the Billionaires Index. He also claims they plan to publish “granular details about his cryptocurrency assets, including a breakdown of his cryptocurrency holdings,” in the Billionaires Index, and that he wouldn’t have agreed to share the information had he known.

Sun sent a cease and desist to Bloomberg, and was informed they still intend to publish. He now seeks an injunction against the company.

The “agreement” Justin Sun says should prevent Bloomberg from publishing the amounts and types of crypto assets he holds seems extremely shaky to me (caveat: I’m not a lawyer, some images are missing).

It looks like Justin Sun and his team sent the information he now claims is confidential on or around February 28.

A month later, on March 27, Justin Sun posted terms including: “The data is solely for verification and may not be used for any other purpose (including reporting) ... Bloomberg must also agree to use the data strictly in accordance with our requirements — for example, to provide only a general assessment or overall valuation based on the data, without making any specific references or detailed reporting on the figures.”

Bloomberg’s Tom Maloney: “Nobody at Bloomberg agreed to the terms sent by Justin, weeks after the data was shared with us.”

Bloomberg says they will oppose a temporary restraining order, but also that a TRO is moot because Bloomberg already published.

It seems Sun is objecting to VERY rough estimates of his crypto holdings (~60 billion TRX, heavily discounted; 17k BTC; 224K ETH; 700K Tether).

Confidence rating: 1 star
The majority of Sun's net worth comes from cryptocurrency he owns.
Sun owns more than 60 billion Tronix (also referred to as TRON or TRX), the cryptocurrency native to Tron, according to an analysis of financial information provided by representatives of Sun in February 2025. A 75% liquidity discount is applied to the value of the token because Sun controls the majority of its supply. Tron has more than 300 million user accounts as of June 2025, according to the Tronscan website.
Sun also owns about 17,000 Bitcoin, 224,000 Ether, and 700,000 Tether, according to the same analysis. No discount is applied to these because his holdings represent less than 1% of the total supply.
The analysis only includes tokens that are on-chain. Tokens that are held on exchanges such as HTX and Binance are not included in the analysis because the holdings could not be verified.
Sun owns the cryptocurrency exchange HTX. It's calculated to have had revenue of about $1.3 billion in 2024, based on its spot and derivative trading volumes and fee schedules. It's valued using the average price-to-sales multiple of Coinbase Global Inc., Galaxy Digital Inc. and Riot Platforms Inc. Sun is credited with about 90% of the company, based on information provided by his representatives in May 2025. A 50% liquidity discount is applied.
Confidence rating: 1 star
The majority of Sun's net worth comes from cryptocurrency he owns.
Sun owns more than 60 billion Tronix (also referred to as TRON or TRX), the cryptocurrency native to Tron, according to an analysis of financial information provided by representatives of Sun in February 2025. A 75% liquidity discount is applied to the value of the token because Sun controls the majority of its supply. Tron has more than 300 million user accounts as of June 2025, according to the Tronscan website.
Sun also owns about 17,000 Bitcoin, 224,000 Ether, and 700,000 Tether, according to the same analysis. No discount is applied to these because his holdings represent less than 1% of the total supply.
The analysis only includes tokens that are on-chain. Tokens that are held on exchanges such as HTX and Binance are not included in the analysis because the holdings could not be verified.
Sun owns the cryptocurrency exchange HTX. It's calculated to have had revenue of about $1.3 billion in 2024, based on its spot and derivative trading volumes and fee schedules. It's valued using the average price-to-sales multiple of Coinbase Global Inc., Galaxy Digital Inc. and Riot Platforms Inc. Sun is credited with about 90% of the company, based on information provided by his representatives in May 2025. A 50% liquidity discount is applied.

My guess is that his fury here is at the revelation that he controls 60 billion TRX (63% of the total supply, and it’s not clear to what extent they’re counting TRX held by companies he owns). It’s always been known he owns a lot, but estimates I’ve seen are lower than that.

The other explanations that I’ve brainstormed don’t really make sense. The estimates likely aren’t specific enough to be identifying, as he claims. And I doubt it’s an ego thing at having his net worth shown to be lower than he wants — Bloomberg puts him at $12.4B, higher than Forbes’ $8.5B. (Though maybe he wants them to say his 60B TRX are worth $21.6B, idk)

The House has passed the GENIUS Act stablecoin bill, sending it to Trump's desk where he will sign it. They've also passed the CLARITY Act crypto market structure bill and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, both of which still need to go to the Senate.

Lawsuits like this one are not something to celebrate just because you hate Fox News.

I'm not normally one to agree with Fox, but they're right in their statement that suits like this are "designed to chill free speech critical of [Newsom]."

The California governor accused Fox News of defamation in a lawsuit Friday morning, alleging the network should fork over $787 million after host Jesse Watters claimed Newsom lied about his phone calls with Trump, who ordered National Guard troops to Los Angeles this month.