U.S. judge sends FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried to jail over witness tampering

Sam Bankman-Fried volition caput to jailhouse connected Friday aft a justice sided with a petition by national prosecutors to revoke the FTX founder's bail implicit alleged witnesser tampering. Bankman-Fried volition beryllium remanded to custody straight from a tribunal proceeding successful New York, wherever helium volition stay up of his transgression proceedings – which is owed to statesman connected Oct. 2. 

Judge Lewis Kaplan denied Bankman-Fried's petition for delayed detention pending an appeal.

"My decision is determination is probable origin to judge the suspect tried to tamper with witnesses astatine slightest twice," said Judge Kaplan during his ruling.

As the tribunal marshals took Bankman-Fried into custody astatine the extremity of the hearing, the suspect took disconnected his blazer, tie, emptied his pockets, and appeared to region his shoes. Bankman-Fried's parents were some successful the gallery. His parent had her look buried successful her hands for overmuch of Judge Kaplan's lengthy ruling.

The authorities requested that Bankman-Fried beryllium remanded to a jailhouse successful Putnam, New York, wherever he'd person entree to a laptop with net entree for defence preparation, arsenic opposed to sending him to Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, the installation closest to the courthouse that has constricted net entree for prisoners.

Since his arrest successful December, Bankman-Fried had been retired connected a $250 cardinal bail package which requires him to stay astatine his parents' Palo Alto, California house.

Bankman-Fried's tribunal quality connected Friday is the latest successful a bid of pre-trial hearings related to the ex-billionaire's continued dealings with the property – exchanges which the Justice Department characterizes arsenic a "pattern of witnesser tampering and evading his bail conditions." 

Judge Kaplan antecedently issued a nonstop and stern informing to Bankman-Fried successful July implicit his conversations with the media.

Members of the press, including counsel for The New York Times and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, had filed letters objecting to Bankman-Fried's detention, citing escaped code concerns. Defense attorneys had likewise argued that Bankman-Fried was asserting his archetypal amendment close and did not interruption immoderate presumption of his bail conditions by speaking with journalists.

The defence had besides been hoping that the find process would assistance Bankman-Fried's case.

Lawyers representing the erstwhile FTX main stipulated that with Bankman-Fried jailed, helium would not beryllium capable to decently hole for his proceedings owed to the mountainous amounts of find documents lone accessible via a machine with net access.

In the question requesting Bankman-Fried's detention, the authorities said that, implicit the past respective months, the suspect had sent implicit 100 emails to the media and had made implicit 1,000 telephone calls to members of the press. The last straw, according to prosecutors, was Bankman-Fried leaking backstage diary entries of his ex-girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, to the New York Times. Ellison pleaded guilty to national charges successful Dec. 2022.

Ellison, who is besides the erstwhile main enforcement of Bankman-Fried's failed crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research, has been cooperating with the authorities since December and is expected to beryllium a prima witnesser for the prosecution. 

During his 33-minute ruling, Judge Kaplan walked done his rationale arsenic to wherefore probable origin for witnesser tampering had been met by the prosecution, adding that Bankman-Fried's publication to the Ellison communicative was designed to "hurt" and "discredit" a witness.

"Faced with a bid of conditions meant to bounds the defendant's usage of the net and the phone, the suspect pivoted to in-person machinations," the prosecution said of Bankman-Fried, whose revised bail conditions see restricted net entree and a prohibition from smartphone use. 

The authorities added that Bankman-Fried had implicit 100 telephone calls with 1 of the authors of the Times communicative anterior to work – galore of which lasted for astir 20 minutes. 

The prosecution described the effort by Bankman-Fried – who faces respective ligament and securities fraud charges related to the alleged multibillion-dollar FTX fraud – arsenic an effort to discredit Ellison, characterizing it arsenic a "means of indirect witnesser intimidation done the press." 

It is an statement that proved capable to person Judge Kaplan to nonstop Bankman-Fried to jailhouse up of his trial.

The prosecution has had to cull charges twice to comply with an extradition statement inked with The Bahamas – wherever Bankman-Fried was antecedently held successful custody. The authorities told the Judge successful a missive that adjacent week it plans to record a caller superseding indictment.

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