Bankman-Fried due in court as judge weighs potential gag order

investing.com:

Investing.com -- Sam Bankman-Fried is set to appear in a federal court on Wednesday as a judge considers whether to bar the founder of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX from making public statements ahead of his upcoming fraud trial.

Bankman-Fried is currently set to go on trial in early October over fraud charges related to the collapse of FTX. He has pleaded not guilty to claims that he stole billions from FTX customers to plug losses at his hedge fund Alameda Research.

Today's hearing, which is set to begin at 14:00 ET (18:00 GMT), comes as the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan is requesting that a gag order be placed on Bankman-Fried and his allies before the start of that trial.

Prosecutors requested the ban last week after Bankman-Fried shared personal Google documents from Caroline Ellison, the former head of his crypto hedge fund Alameda Research and his ex-romantic partner, with reporters from The New York Times. Writing to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of witness tampering, noting that Ellison is due to be key witness in the trial.

Bankman-Fried rejected those claims but agreed to accept a gag order. The defense also asked that the ban apply to prosecutors and possible witnesses like current FTX chief executive John Ray.

Meanwhile, Kaplan is keen to reassess «the adequacy and continuation» of Bankman-Fried's current bail conditions.

Following his extradition late last year from the Bahamas, where FTX was based and where he was arrested, Bankman-Fried has been mostly confined to his parents' home in Palo Alto, California.

Prosecutors have called out his behavior while on bail, saying in January that he tried to contact Ray and FTX's in-house lawyer.