Stanford Law School's Dean Emeritus, a close friend of the disgraced FTX CEO's parents, put up $500,000 — while a senior research engineer in computer science put up $200,000.
The answer to the intriguing riddle of who among Sam Bankman-Fried's friends and colleagues was willing to put up hundreds of thousands of dollars to back the bail bond keeping him out of jail while awaiting trial all came back to Stanford University, where his parents are professors.
Founder and CEO of bankrupt FTX, Bankman-Fried is facing eight charges relating to his alleged use of $10 billion of his crypto exchange's clients funds to bail out his trading firm, Alameda Research. He is believed to have lost $8 billion of that.
On Wednesday, the trial judge acceded to Freedom of Information law requests from various press outlets, the two people who co-signed his bond were revealed to be friends and colleagues of his parents at Stanford University. Joseph Bankman is a professor at Stanford Law School, where Barbara Fried is a professor emeritus, having recently retired.
Aside from their Palo Alto home, the terms of Bankman-Fried's bail required two additional co-signers "of considerable means." One could not be a relative.
Larry Kramer, Dean Emeritus of Stanford Law School, put up $500,000. Andreas Paepcke, a senior research engineer in computer science at Stanford, put up $200,000.
Friendship First
Kramer said in a statement that he and his wife had been close friends of Bankman and Fried for nearly 30 years. He refused to comment on the legal case itself other than to say that he has "no business dealings or interest in this matter other than to help our loyal and steadfast friends." Kramer added:
"During the past two years, while my family faced a harrowing battle with cancer, they have been the truest of friends — bringing food, providing moral support, and frequently stepping in at a moment's notice to help. In turn, we have sought to support them as they face their own crisis."
Paepcke had no immediate comment.
