Sam Bankman-Fried Needs Jail Time After Tampering With Witnesses and Impeding Investigations: DOJ

The Department of Justice (DOJ) says it is unsatisfied with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s current bail terms after the disgraced crypto entrepreneur allegedly tampered with witnesses and went out of his way to obstruct investigations.

In a court filing, the DOJ asks Judge Lewis Kaplan to revoke Bankman-Fried’s bail and put him in detention due to the unlikelihood that the former billionaire will be willing to abide by his pretrial conditions.

“The Government writes in further support of its motion for the defendant’s bail to be revoked and for the Court to enter an order of detention. The defendant’s attempts to tamper with witnesses and interfere with the Government’s and public’s right to a fair trial and the due administration of justice, and his pattern of circumventing his bail conditions in that pursuit, demonstrate that no set of pretrial release conditions can adequately assure the safety of the community and that the defendant is unlikely to fully abide by any conditions of release.”

The DOJ mentions Bankman-Fried’s intentional leak of diary writings belonging to Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of FTX’s trading arm Alameda Research.

The agency says Bankman-Fried’s decision to leak the writings was an attempt to “hinder, prevent, or dissuade” Ellison from testifying.

“More recently, the defendant’s leaking of Ellison’s private writings is yet another instance of the defendant trying 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 specter that their most intimate business is at risk of being reported in the press.”

Bankman-Fried is currently out on bail, living in his parents’ home in Paolo Alto, California.

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Featured Image: Shutterstock/Alberto Andrei Rosu