Judge Contemplates Jailing Sam Bankman-Fried Ahead of Fraud Trial

The judge presiding over the criminal charges against Sam Bankman-Fried has restricted him from communicating publicly on Wednesday. The judge is considering jailing him for allegations of witness tampering before the trial over the collapse of FTX begins.

This decision was arrived at after Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly shared personal writings of Caroline Ellison, his former girlfriend and the former Chief Executive Officer of Alameda Research, with a journalist. According to the prosecutors, by sharing Ellison's writings, Bankman-Fried had violated the terms of his bail.

SBF Is Accused of Intimidating Witnesses

Ellison is a key witness who is expected to testify against Bankman-Fried when he stands trial in October. Alongside two of FTX's former executives, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, she has pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and agreed to cooperate with the prosecutors.

Bankman-Fried was released on bail set at USD $250 million last December after being extradited from the Bahamas, to face trial in the US. One of the terms of the bail is that he must be confined to his parent’s home in Palo Alto as he awaits his trial.

Earlier, Judge Lewis Kaplan issued a gag order against the former billionaire and gave his lawyers and the prosecutors until August 3 to share their opinion about a decision to jail him. Although Bankman-Fried previously agreed to the order, he asked that the gag order should apply to John Ray III, the bankruptcy specialist who is currently the CEO of FTX.

Prosecutors Proposed Gag Order

The gag order restricts the prosecutors and Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyers from publicly disseminating or discussing any details about the case with public media that could interfere with a fair trial. Additionally, the order restricts parties from making statements intended to influence public opinion about the case.

The Assistant US Attorney, Danielle Sassoon told the court yesterday (Wednesday) about a second instance when Bankman Fried allegedly tampered with a witness by proposing to enter into a ‘constructive relationship’ with the General Counsel of FTX US. Additionally, the 31-year-old is accused of having made more than 1,000 phone calls to journalists.

Meanwhile, Finance Magnates reported a week ago that FTX had sued Bankman-Fried and the former exchange's executives in an attempt to recover USD $1 billion believed to have been misappropriated through donations to political parties, the purchase of luxurious real estate properties and speculative trading.