Bankman-Fried case reassigned because judge’s husband has ties to FTX

close video Sam Bankman-Fried goes home after posting $250 million bond

Fox News contributor Mary OGrady discusses FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried heading home for the holidays after posting $250 million bond on Fox Business Tonight.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has had his criminal case reassigned. U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams recused herself from the case Tuesday. 

Abrams released a statement explaining that her husband is a partner at law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, which advised FTX in 2021.

"It has come to the Court’s attention that the law firm of Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, at which my husband is a partner, advised FTX in 2021, as well as represented parties that may be adverse to FTX and Defendant Bankman-Fried in other proceedings (or potential proceedings)," Abrams wrote in her recusal statement.

"My husband has had no involvement in any of these representations. These matters are confidential and their substance is unknown to the Court. Nonetheless, to avoid any possible conflict, or the appearance of one, the Court hereby recuses itself from this action," she added.

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The founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX Sam Bankman-Fried leaves the Magistrate Court building in Nassau, Bahamas, Dec. 19, 2022. (REUTERS/Marco Bello / Reuters Photos)

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The case has been reassigned to US Judge Lewis Kaplan. Kaplan is currently handling defamation lawsuits filed against former President Donald Trump.

Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison said she and Bankman-Fried misled lenders about how much the company was borrowing from the cryptocurrency exchange.

Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison reportedly admitted to knowingly misleading lenders the company’s financial ties to FTX. (Twitter @carolinecapital / Fox News)

Ellison revealed her actions in a Dec. 19 plea hearing in a Manhattan federal court, Bloomberg reported. 

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"I am truly sorry for what I did. I knew that it was wrong," she said, according to a transcript of the hearing in which she acknowledged the financial ties between her company and FTX.

Fox Business' Louis Casiano contributed to this report.