Breaking: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried jailed for tampering with witnesses

• Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty of violating bail conditions and as a result, has been sentenced to jail
• The former FTX CEO will be allowed to have access to the Internet in prison

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) – the founder and former CEO of FTX – will be heading straight to prison for tampering with evidence. Additionally, a violation breaches one of the terms agreed upon for the bail of the former crypto bigwig.

And, in accordance, the court revoked his bail in a hearing in the early hours of 11 August. The decision comes nearly two months before the beginning of his trial, which will decide whether or not he is guilty of committing multiple financial crimes.

A post by Inner City Press on social media platform – X, formerly Twitter, read,

“Judge Kaplan: He subscribed from the Bahamas and used a VPN as if he were in the Bahamas when he was in Palo Alto and could have watched it on public TV. It shows the mindset. All things considered I am going to revoke bail.“

Sam Bankman-Fried is guilty of violating bail conditions

The former FTX head was released on bail in December 2022, in exchange for a $250 million bond. Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions have been revised twice since then, with the US government claiming several misconducts. The revision allowed SBF to have a phone but not with an internet connection and a laptop with limited functions.

Notably, the hearing held today centered on the US Department of Justice’s move to jail SBF for tampering with witnesses. The DoJ brought up the use of a Virtual Private Network [VPN], which claimed to have been used to watch a football game, and contact with the FTX.US counsel.

More importantly, the DoJ pursued jail time for SBF for leaking Alameda CEO – Caroline Ellison‘s diary to the New York Times.

Addressing the leak of Ellison’s diary, Judge Lewis Kaplan stated that its nature was “in part personal and intimate”. The Judge further added that they were “personally oriented and not business oriented. There’s something that someone who has been in a relationship would be unlikely to share with anyone except to hurt and frighten the subject.” The Tweet on the matter also said,

“In view of the evidence, my conclusion is that there is probable cause to believe that the defendant has attempted to tamper with witnesses at least twice under Section 1512(b)”

Given the new verdict, Sam Bankman-Fried will not be detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC). Judge Lewis Kaplan had also allowed him to have a laptop for 11 hours a day.

However, the US Government proposed a different recommendation, which stated, “We propose Putnam because where we are in the case, it could take weeks to load a laptop. So we say Putnam with ‘Net”.