FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried sent a message on Jan. 15 to Ryne Miller, the crypto exchange’s U.S. general counsel—contact that has created an uproar in the criminal case against Bankman-Fried.

In the message, sent via email and the encrypted-messaging-service Signal, Bankman-Fried wrote, “I would really love to reconnect and see if there’s a way for us to have a constructive relationship, use each other as resources when possible, or at least vet things with each other.”