Sam Bankman-Fried Sent to New York Prison After Federal Judge Revokes Bail: Report

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried will reportedly wait for his October trial in prison after a federal judge revoked his bail on Friday.

CNN reports that US marshals handcuffed and accompanied the former crypto billionaire out of the courtroom following District Judge Lewis Kaplan’s order that the he be temporarily remanded to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Bankman-Fried is accused of masterminding a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme where he allegedly lied to customers and commingled the funds they deposited into FTX.

The $250 million bail allowed him to stay at his parent’s house in Palo Alto, California following his arrest in December, but federal prosecutors sought to revoke the bail and put him in detention.

In a letter to Kaplan asking for the revocation of the bail, the prosecution says the FTX founder is unlikely to abide by the conditions of his pretrial release, highlighting Bankman-Fried’s efforts to tamper with witnesses and obstruct investigations.

“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 request comes after Bankman-Fried gave the New York Times the personal writings of his former associate, Caroline Ellison, who is set to testify against him. During the hearing on Friday, Kaplan says the act would only be done to “hurt, discredit and frighten the subject of the material.”

Bankman-Fried’s lawyers filed a notice of appeal following the announcement of the order.

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