FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried emerges from court in Manhattan after a judge issued a gag order following the alleged leak of a key witnesses’ private writings (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer).
Disgraced cryptocurrency CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was temporarily gagged by a federal judge after prosecutors alleged he leaked diaries written by his former girlfriend — and a looming star witness at his massive fraud trial later this year — to The New York Times.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan issued the gag order on Wednesday, forbidding the embroiled crypto boss from further “disseminating or discussing” anything about his case including the identity, testimony, or his opinion of any potential witness as well as any information that isn’t considered admissible at trial. That would include statements that might potentially sway public opinion. The order further prohibits him from causing others, including surrogates or family members, spokespeople or other representatives from making statements on his behalf.
Prosecutors argue Bankman-Fried has been in excessive contact with reporters and others in the media and is attempting to advocate for himself improperly ahead of his Oct. 2 trial.
In court Wednesday, per Courthouse News Service, prosecutors pointed to the recent publication of diaries in the Times by Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s former on-again, off-again girlfriend and the onetime CEO of the crypto hedge fund Bankman-Fried founded, Alameda Research. She pleaded guilty to fraud charges in December and is now cooperating with prosecutors.
Despite concerns aired by prosecutors, Kaplan did not decide Wednesday whether he would revoke the staggering $250 million bail set in place for Bankman-Fried last winter. He has been on home detention with his parents in California since December.
“I’m aware, I think pretty fully, about the document issues and the need for access by the defendant. I’m certainly very mindful of his First Amendment rights and I am very mindful of the government’s interest in this issue, which I take seriously,” Kaplan said. “And I say to the defendant: Mr. Bankman-Fried, you better take it seriously too.”
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Should he be jailed ahead of trial, Bankman-Fried would very likely be held at a facility in New York, where he will be tried.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon told Judge Kaplan she believes Bankman-Fried’s contact with reporters at the Times and elsewhere is an attempt to taint the jury pool and intimidate potential witnesses.
Speaking of Ellison’s published diaries, which Sasson argued cast the young woman in an unfairly negative light, the prosecutor called Bankman-Fried’s sharing of the personal journal with the press “particularly pernicious.”
His first trial gets underway in October. That will cover just under a dozen charges in his initial indictment for a myriad of fraud and conspiracy charges. A second trial slated for March will feature charges including bank fraud and bribing Chinese officials.
Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty.
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