FTX's Bankman-Fried arrives at court docket in struggle to remain out of jail

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Sam Bankman-Fried, the indicted founding father of the bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency change, arrived at a Manhattan courthouse on Friday, the place he could study if he should put together for his October fraud trial from behind the jailhouse door.

Bankman-Fried, 31, has pleaded not responsible to stealing billions of {dollars} in FTX buyer funds to plug losses at his hedge fund Alameda Analysis.

He has been largely confined to his dad and mom’ Palo Alto, California, dwelling on $250 million bond since his December 2022 arrest, however the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace in Manhattan now desires him jailed for witness tampering.

Prosecutors first made their shock request to jail the previous billionaire in a July 26 listening to, saying he “crossed a line” by sharing former romantic accomplice Caroline Ellison’s private writings with a New York Occasions reporter.

Ellison had been Alameda’s chief govt, and is predicted to testify in opposition to Bankman-Fried after pleading responsible to fraud and agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors.

Two different former members of Bankman-Fried’s interior circle entered comparable responsible pleas.

Bankman-Fried’s legal professionals have stated prosecutors mischaracterized his intentions in sharing Ellison’s writings, arguing he needed to defend his fame and had a proper to talk to the press.

U.S. District Decide Lewis Kaplan will resolve whether or not Bankman-Fried ought to stay free. The listening to begins at 2 p.m. Jap time (1800 GMT).

Within the July 26 listening to, Kaplan restricted Bankman-Fried from talking publicly about his case, and requested each side to handle whether or not jail was crucial.

The gag order has additionally drawn consideration from information media together with the Occasions, which in an Aug. 2 letter to the decide stated the measure needs to be loosened to solely limit feedback that would intervene with a good trial.

A July 20 article within the newspaper contained excerpts from Ellison’s private Google (NASDAQ:) paperwork previous to FTX’s collapse.

She described being “sad and overwhelmed” along with her job and feeling “harm/rejected” from her private breakup with Bankman-Fried.