The judge in the FTX fraud case stepped down because her husband works for a firm that advised Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange last year
Yuki Iwamura/AP Photo
- Ronnie Abrams, the US district judge in the FTX fraud case, stepped down and has been replaced.
- She said that her husband is a partner at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, which last year advised FTX.
- Abrams said her husband hadn't been involved. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan has taken over the FTX case.
The judge in the FTX fraud case recused herself because her husband works for a firm that advised the company last year.
Ronnie Abrams, a judge at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, said in a filing on Friday that she was stepping down. She said that her husband is a partner at New York City-based law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, which last year advised FTX and represented parties "that may be adverse to FTX and Defendant Bankman-Fried in other proceedings."
"My husband has had no involvement in any of these representations," Abrams said, adding that the matters were "confidential" and that the court didn't know the substance of them.
"Nonetheless, to avoid any possible conflict, or the appearance of one, the Court hereby recuses itself from this action," Abrams said.
Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, filed an indictment against FTX and Alameda Research cofounder Sam Bankman-Fried on December 9. The former crypto mogul was accused of eight criminal charges, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Bankman-Fried was arrested on December 12 in the Bahamas at the request of the US government, and his indictment was unsealed the next day. The 30-year-old was extradited to the US, where he was released on $250 million bail.
Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX cofounder and former CTO Gary Wang were both added as defendants on December 19. Ellison and Wang pleaded guilty to the charges against them.
On Tuesday, the case was reassigned to Lewis A. Kaplan, a senior judge at the court, legal filings show. Kaplan has also presided over writer E. Jean Carroll's lawsuit against former president Donald Trump for allegedly attacking her reputation by denying her rape allegation.