Giving access to FTX's platform would let funds slip away to an untrustworthy Bahamas government, while inflammatory Congressional testimony from new CEO John Ray risked taking the case “off the rails,” the court was told by the two opposing parties.

“This is dangerous information,” James Bromley, representing Ray's FTX, said of a demand from Bahamas-based joint provisional liquidators (JPLs) to be given access to the Amazon and Google cloud services that underpinned the exchange.

“We do not trust the Bahamian government and … we simply don't trust that the JPLs will be able to hold this information and not provide it to the Bahamian government,” he added. “The Securities Commission of the Bahamas has already collaborated with the JPLs to obtain access to digital assets and to mint tokens.”

Bromley is worried that access to the platform will enable cryptocurrency to be transferred out of U.S. control. He has previously submitted as evidence a Nov. 10 email between Bankman-Fried and Bahamas Attorney General Ryan Pinder that suggested local users of the site would be given preferential access to assets.