US judge tightens Sam Bankman-Fried's bail, will consider jailing him
By Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) — A U.S. judge on Wednesday tightened Sam Bankman-Fried's bail conditions by restricting his ability to communicate publicly, and said he will consider jailing him before the trial over the collapse of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
At a hearing in Manhattan federal court, prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to detain Bankman-Fried now, saying he had «crossed a line» by sharing his former romantic partner Caroline Ellison's personal writings with a reporter, in what they said amounted to a second instance of witness tampering.
Kaplan imposed a «gag order» previously requested by prosecutors for the 31-year-old Bankman-Fried, and gave both sides until Aug. 3 to explain their views on whether jail is necessary for the former billionaire.
«I'm very mindful of the government's interest in this issue, which I take seriously,» Kaplan said. «Mr. Bankman-Fried, you'd better take it seriously too.»
Mark Cohen, a lawyer for Bankman-Fried, said his client was trying merely to protect his reputation by communicating with journalists, and that it «really would be almost impossible» to prepare for the Oct. 2 trial if Bankman-Fried were jailed.
Bankman-Fried has been largely confined to his parents' home in Palo Alto, California, since his extradition in December from the Bahamas, where he was arrested and where FTX was based.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges he stole billions of dollars in FTX customer funds in part to plug losses at his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research.
Ellison, who was Alameda's chief executive, is one of three former members of Bankman-Fried's inner circle who pleaded guilty to fraud charges and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. She
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