A motion has been submitted by federal prosecutors in which they have sought to revoke the bond worth $250 million that was granted to the co-founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried.
They have alleged that the former CEO of the now-defunct crypto exchange took advantage of his pretrial release to tamper with witnesses once more.
The motion
The letter, which was 12 pages long, was submitted on Friday to Judge Lewis Kaplan in which Bankman-Fried was accused of leaking the diary entries of Caroline Ellison.
She is the former CEO of Alameda Research and Sam Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend as well. Prosecutors claimed that he leaked the documents to portray Ellison in a bad light.
According to the letter, he shared her private writings regarding her heartache and insecurities with the New York Times.
This was done to ‘intentionally harass’ her and to prevent, hinder or dissuade Ellison from testifying against him.
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney, signed the filing, as did 5 Assistant United State Attorneys, including Danielle Sassoon, who had first made the request for the bail revocation earlier this week.
The arguments
According to the prosecutors, the leaked diary entries are the latest attempt from the disgraced entrepreneur to influence witnesses improperly.
Back in January, he had also attempted to get in touch with the General Counsel at FTX even though he had been restricted from contacting witnesses related to the case.
When he contacted the FTX Counsel, Bankman-Fried had said that he wanted to reconnect and have a constructive relationship where they could use each other and vet things.
The government lawyers have asserted that Bankman-Fried is attempting to hide potential evidence about the wrongdoings at Alameda and FTX by using encrypted messaging applications like Slack and Signal.
More details
In the bail revocation motion, the prosecutors have said that the latest efforts of the defendant to interfere with a fair trial shows that he is unlikely to comply with any release conditions.
Last week, a lawyer for the defense, Mark Cohen, had dismissed the accusations of witness tampering in court and claimed that Bankman-Fried had exercised his rights for speaking to the media.
But, prosecutors claim that the numerous emails and phone calls made by the defendant to journalists show that it is a ‘strategy’ to intimidate witnesses and influence potential jurors before his trial.
They said that he is trying to build his reputation once more by discrediting Ellison and blaming her in an international publication that many prospective jurors in the district are likely to read.
Therefore, it is crossing a line, as the defendant is trying to influence these people and also intimidating a witness and sending other prospective witnesses a message.
Judge Kaplan had not given an immediate ruling on the request of bail revocation, which could turn out to be dramatic for Bankman-Fried.
The 31-year old is currently under house arrest in Palo Alto, California, at his parent’s home, while his trial is scheduled to begin in October.