The bail plea of Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of now defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was revoked and he will now head towards for prison for allegedly tampering with witness.
On Friday (Aug 11), Manhattan District Cout Judge Lewis Kaplan announced his decision while hearing over his bail plea. The ruling came less than two months before the scheduled October fraud trial.
“There is probable cause to believe that the defendant has attempted to tamper with witnesses at least twice,” Kaplan said during the hearing.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers said they intend to appeal the decision.
Ex-FTX CEO was under house arrest
The 31-year-old disgraced founder has been living under house arrest at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California, after being charged last year by the US government that he was involved in perhaps one of the largest financial frauds in US history.
He has been living at his parents’ house since December 2022’s arrest after he signed a $250 million bond.
He is accused of stealing billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to plug losses at his Alameda Research hedge fund.
FTX Fraud Saga: Sam Bankman-Fried to face trial from October 2
The billionaire could be sentenced to life if he is found guilty of those charges.
The government prosecutors wanted to revoke his bail and have the crypto star spend prison time until his trial after accusing him of witness tampering.
Ex-girlfriend to testify
The prosecutors claimed that the former FTX CEO leaked private diary entries of his former girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, to The New York Times.
The alleged leak of Ellison’s diary included reflections on her relationship with Bankman-Fried and some of her professional misgivings.
Hours after the Times published the piece, the prosecution filed a formal request with the judge to modify Bankman-Fried’s bail terms.
They argued that by leaking the documents the defendant hoped “to portray a key cooperator testifying against him in a poor and inculpatory light.”
They said that it was an attempt to “intimidate and corruptly persuade Ellison with respect to her upcoming trial testimony, as well as an effort to influence or prevent the testimony of other potential trial witnesses by creating the spectre that their most intimate business is at risk of being reported in the press.”
Ellison was the former head of Alameda Research, a hedge fund co-founded by Bankman-Fried.
After pleading guilty to fraud charges, Ellison was likely to testify against Bankman-Fried in court.
(With inputs from agencies)