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A federal judge is currently deliberating on the possibility of imposing a media communication restriction on "parties and witnesses" involved in the FTX case. This development comes shortly after the U.S. Department of Justice accused Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, of disclosing confidential documents from a co-conspirator to the press. The matter was mentioned in recent court filings.
The suggested motion, submitted on Monday, arises in the context of the DOJ's assertion that Bankman-Fried disclosed the personal diary of former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison in an attempt to impede a "just trial." It's worth noting that Ellison and Bankman-Fried were romantically involved during the period when the alleged offenses took place.
“The parties in this case, their attorneys, and their agents are prohibited from publicly disseminating or discussing with any public communications media anything about the case which could interfere with a fair trial,” the proposed order said.
It added, “[That includes] statements about the identity, testimony, or credibility of prospective witnesses, information that has not been deemed admissible at trial, and statements intended to influence public opinion regarding the merits of this case.”
Last week, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Bankman-Fried reportedly leaked diary entries belonging to Ellison to the New York Times in a bid to obstruct her testimony against him in the upcoming October trial. Prior to this, Ellison was confronted with the possibility of a jail sentence due to her alleged involvement in defrauding FTX's investors of substantial amounts, totaling billions of dollars. However, she managed to secure a plea deal with federal prosecutors, which allowed her to avoid imprisonment entirely. Instead, she was released immediately on bail amounting to $250,000.
However, on Sunday, Bankman-Fried's legal team vehemently refuted those accusations in a letter addressed to the judge.
“The Government has taken a set of circumstances where nothing improper or impermissible occurred and has unfairly recast the events as a nefarious attempt by Mr. Bankman-Fried to ‘discredit’ Caroline Ellison and ‘taint’ the jury pool. But Mr. BankmanFried did nothing wrong,” his lawyers wrote.
The judge's ruling might jeopardize the lenient terms of the former crypto king's bail. Until this point, Bankman-Fried has enjoyed relatively relaxed conditions, residing at his parent's residence in Palo Alto, California, in the lead-up to his trial. While the court has imposed restrictions on his use of technology, there are exceptions that allow him access to specific websites, including CoinDesk.
This isn’t the initial instance where Bankman-Fried has purportedly evaded his bail restrictions. Back in February, the ex-executive reportedly employed a VPN to intimidate Ryne Miller, the former FTX US General Counsel, who could potentially be a witness in the case against him, via Signal. Bankman-Fried asserted that he utilized the VPN to watch the Superbowl, a claim that Judge Kaplan was doubtful about.
Judge Kaplan has previously noted the leniency of Bankman-Fried's bail terms and issued a warning of initiating revocation procedures should he persist in breaching the conditions.
“It could get there,” Kaplan warned at a February hearing. “I want [the bail conditions] to be tight.”
Source Coindesk
