The founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been accused of witness tampering by American prosecutors, and they have sought a federal judge’s injunction prohibiting the former billionaire and other parties from speaking out in a way that would compromise the integrity of a fair trial.
The prosecution referenced a New York Times article titled “Inside the Private Writings of Caroline Ellison, Star Witness in the FTX Case” in a letter they sent to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan on Thursday.
Ellison, who oversaw Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research hedge fund, admitted to cheating investors and consented to collaborate with investigators.
Since then, Bankman-Fried’s attorneys have informed the government that he personally met with one of the article’s authors and shared papers “that were not part of the government’s discovery material.” According to the prosecution, it was evident that Bankman-Fried shared documents with the New York Times.
The prosecution contended that Bankman-Fried was seeking to undermine Ellison’s credibility by releasing these records and that this behaviour could discourage witnesses from testifying and contaminate the jury pool.
Earlier on Thursday, the cryptocurrency exchange’s founder, Bankman-Fried, and other former executives were sued by FTX Trading in an effort to recover more than $1 billion they are believed to have misappropriated prior to FTX’s bankruptcy.
