Prosecutors say FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is harassing a key witness at his upcoming trial
Prosecutors say FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is harassing a key witness against him at his upcoming trial by publicly disclosing personal things she wrote while she was the chief executive at his cryptocurrency hedge fund trading firm
NEW YORK — FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is harassing a key witness against him at his upcoming trial by giving a newspaper personal things she wrote while she was the chief executive of his cryptocurrency hedge fund trading firm, prosecutors say.
They asked a judge late Thursday to order trial participants not to make statements that might taint the yet-to-be-chosen jury in a criminal case over allegations that Bankman-Fried and other top executives cheated investors and looted FTX customer deposits, in part to fund lavish lifestyles.
In a letter to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, prosecutors said Bankman-Fried gave some of Caroline Ellison's personal correspondence to The New York Times. They said that had the effect of harassing her and seemed designed to deter other potential trial witnesses from testifying.
They called it an effort to “publicly discredit a government witness” and interfere with an Oct. 2 trial.
Ellison, 28, was CEO of Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency hedge fund trading firm that was an offshoot of FTX.
FTX entered bankruptcy in November when the global exchange ran out of money after the equivalent of a bank run.
Ellison pleaded guilty in December to criminal charges that carry a potential penalty of 110 years in prison. She has agreed to testify against Bankman-Fried, 31, as part of a deal that could result in leniency.
Prosecutors said lawyers for Bankman-Fried confirmed that their client had shared documents that were not currently part of trial evidence with The New York
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