Topline
A judge issued a gag order against former FTX cryptocurrency exchange boss Sam Bankman-Fried after prosecutors asked that he be detained for allegedly leaking his former business partner’s personal information to the press in an attempt to discredit her as a witness as his fraud trial approaches.
Prosecutors want Sam Bankman-Fried to be jailed after they accused him of witness-tampering.
Key Facts
Bankman-Fried allegedly leaked former girlfriend and business partner Caroline Ellison’s personal writing to the New York Times, multiple news outlets reported.
In response to those allegations a judge ruled Wednesday restricting his ability to speak publicly about his case.
Prosecutors asked U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan to detain Bankman-Fried until trial because of these allegations and others that have come up since the former crypto CEO was arrested in December on fraud charges, before being released after posting bail.
The former FTX CEO allegedly communicated with the media multiple times as part of an “ongoing campaign with the press that has now crossed a line,” Assistant US Attorney Danielle Sassoon said Wednesday, according to multiple outlets.
Big Number
$250 million. That’s the amount of bond Bankman-Fried was released on following his arrest in December. Since then, he’s been under house arrest in his parents’ California home preparing for trial.
Key Background
Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas on U.S. request in December and extradited back to California soon after. Later that month he was released on bail and returned to his parent’s home in Palo Alto, California. Then in January, Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to eight federal charges with his trial scheduled for October. His fall from grace began last November after CoinDesk reported on suspicious intermingling of finances at FTX and Alameda Research hedge fund. Bankman-Fried later resigned from FTX and the company filed for bankruptcy. He was arrested alongside several other high-ranking executives at the two firms. Overall he faces 13 counts including charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations. In addition to the eight counts he pled guilty to in January, he’s also accused of overseeing the movement of $40 million from an Alameda account to a private account believed to belong to Chinese officials in November 2021.
Further Reading
U.S. Accuses Sam Bankman-Fried Of Paying $40 Million Bribe To Chinese Official (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/anafaguy/2023/07/26/prosecutors-want-sam-bankman-fried-jailed-over-witness-tampering-allegations/