Judge in FTX Case Orders Gag on Contact with Media

A national justice is considering forbidding “parties and witnesses” successful the FTX lawsuit from speaking to the media, days aft the U.S. Department of Justice alleged that FTX laminitis Sam Bankman-Fried leaked backstage documents from 1 of his co-conspirators to the press, according to tribunal filings.

The projected order, filed Monday, comes arsenic the DOJ claims Bankman-Fried shared erstwhile Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison’s backstage diary to obstruct a “fair trial.” Ellison and Bankman-Fried had besides been successful a narration astatine the clip of the alleged crimes.

“The parties successful this case, their attorneys, and their agents are prohibited from publically disseminating oregon discussing with immoderate nationalist communications media thing astir the lawsuit which could interfere with a just trial,” the projected bid said.

It added, “[That includes] statements astir the identity, testimony, oregon credibility of prospective witnesses, accusation that has not been deemed admissible astatine trial, and statements intended to power nationalist sentiment regarding the merits of this case.”

Bankman-Fried allegedly slipped diary entries from Ellison to the New York Times past week successful an effort to derail her grounds against him astatine his upcoming proceedings this October, the DOJ said successful a missive Friday. Ellison faced a imaginable jailhouse word for her relation successful allegedly defrauding FTX’s investors of billions of dollars earlier accepting a plea woody from national prosecutors that would alteration her to debar situation wholly and beryllium released instantly connected a $250,000 bail.

But, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers denied those accusations successful a letter to the justice connected Sunday.

“The Government has taken a acceptable of circumstances wherever thing improper oregon impermissible occurred and has unfairly recast the events arsenic a nefarious effort by Mr. Bankman-Fried to ‘discredit’ Caroline Ellison and ‘taint’ the assemblage pool. But Mr. BankmanFried did thing wrong,” his lawyers wrote.

The judge’s bid could endanger the conditions of the erstwhile crypto king’s bail, which up until present person been comparatively loose. Bankman-Fried is surviving astatine his parent’s location successful Palo Alto, California successful the run-up to his trial. The tribunal has restricted his usage of technology, but has granted exceptions permitting him to entree definite websites, including CoinDesk.

This isn’t the archetypal clip Bankman-Fried has allegedly skirted his bail conditions. In February, the erstwhile enforcement allegedly utilized a VPN to intimidate erstwhile FTX US General Counsel Ryne Miller, a imaginable witnesser successful the lawsuit against him, connected Signal. Bankman-Fried maintained helium utilized the VPN to ticker the Superbowl, a assertion of which Judge Kaplan had been skeptical.

Judge Kaplan has antecedently remarked connected the relaxed quality of Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions and threatened revocation proceedings against him if helium continues to interruption his bail conditions.