Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers have appealed a judge’s decision to send him to jail while he is waiting to start trial over several allegations tied to the collapse of his former crypto exchange FTX on October 3, Reuters reports.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who will oversee the entire trial that will take place in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, had previously revoked the FTX founder’s bail saying that he tried to tamper with witnesses, including former FTX.US general counsel Ryne Miller and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison. Bankman-Fried’s attorneys said they would appeal at the same hearing, and tried unsuccessfully to keep him out of jail until the appeal was heard.
Bankman-Fried had shared part of Ellison’s private diary with the New York Times which Judge Kaplan deemed as an attempt to harass and intimidate her, but the former billionaire crypto mogul claims he only acted out of protection for himself, according to documents seen by Reuters.
“It is unclear how a cooperating witness who has promised to testify against a defendant could be meaningfully threatened by nothing but their own statements being published by a reputable newspaper,” his lawyers wrote.
Bankman-Fried is currently locked up at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center which his lawyers have argued multiple times interferes with his preparation for trial, which is a constitutional right. He is set to go on trial on allegations of wire fraud, commodities fraud, securities fraud, money laundering and related conspiracy charges.
