FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was ordered to jail Friday after a federal judge in New York revoked his bail.
Bankman-Friend, 31, is facing allegations he swindled investors and misappropriated billions of dollars worth of customer deposits in the collapsed cryptocurrency fund, according to The New York Times. He has been under house arrest at his parents’ house in Palo Alto, California, since his December arrest on fraud charges, and is scheduled to go to trial in October.
Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried gave documents about a witness to the media.
Last month, The New York Times detailed the private writings of Caroline Ellison, who was an executive in Bankman-Fried’s company, and also dated Bankman-Fried. Ellison pleaded not guilty to fraud charges and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.
Prosecutors claim that Bankman-Fried provided the documents to the Times in order to intimidate Ellison ahead of his trial. They also allege in court filings that Bankman-Fried has had conversations with other journalists and author Michael Lewis, who is writing a book about FTX, according to the Times.
District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said there was probable cause to believe he had tried to tamper with witnesses at least twice, according to CNN. The judge said a gag order would not be sufficient in this instance.
