Judge Contemplates Jailing Sam Bankman-Fried Ahead of Fraud Trial

<p>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.</p><p>This decision was
arrived at after Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/us-doj-accuses-ftx-founder-of-leaking-caroline-ellisons-private-diary/" target="_blank" rel="follow">shared personal writings</a> 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.</p><p>SBF Is Accused of
Intimidating Witnesses</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>Earlier, Judge Lewis
Kaplan <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/prosecutors-propose-gag-order-on-ftx-founder-to-stop-contact-with-media/" target="_blank" rel="follow">issued
a gag order</a> 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 <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/terms/b/bankruptcy/">bankruptcy</a> specialist who is currently the CEO of FTX. </p><p>Prosecutors Proposed Gag
Order</p><p>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.</p><p>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.</p><p>Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/us-doj-accuses-ftx-founder-of-leaking-caroline-ellisons-private-diary/" target="_blank" rel="follow">Finance
Magnates</a> reported a
week ago that FTX had <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/ftx-launches-1b-lawsuit-against-sam-bankman-fried-and-former-executives/" target="_blank" rel="follow">sued
Bankman-Fried</a> and the
former <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/terms/e/exchange/">exchange</a>'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.</p>

This article was written by Jared Kirui at www.financemagnates.com.