Former CEO of failed crypto exchange FTX in custody
investmentnews.comFTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried is in custody after a federal judge said that the embattled crypto mogul likely tried to tamper with two witnesses while on bail.
US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan revoked the 31-year-old’s bail following a hearing in Manhattan on Friday. Bankman-Fried took off his jacket, tie and shoelaces, and was immediately placed in handcuffs as marshals escorted him out of the courtroom. His mother cried in the public gallery and was comforted by Bankman-Fried’s father.
Kaplan said Bankman-Fried had likely intended to influence two witnesses — former Alameda Research Chief Executive Officer Caroline Ellison and the former FTX general counsel — and to have them “back off” and “hedge their cooperation” with the government.
“A defendant’s speech is not protected to the extent that it is intended to bring about a crime,” Kaplan said.
The former FTX chief executive officer’s lawyers immediately filed a notice of appeal over the bail decision, but lost an application to stay Kaplan’s order.
That meant Bankman-Fried would remain in jail while his legal team fought to overturn the revocation in the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals. He will be taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn from the courthouse, according to a person familiar with the process.
The MDC is the main federal prison in New York for defendants awaiting trial, previously including the likes of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. It is unclear how long Bankman-Fried will stay at the MDC with prosecutors suggesting he could potentially be moved to the Putnam County Correctional Facility in upstate New York.
Prosecutors had asked the judge to revoke Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bail package after accusing him of leaking
Read more on investmentnews.com
