FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrives at Manhattan federal court docket, Wednesday, July 26, 2023, in New York. Bankman-Fried is again in court docket in a prison case accusing him of looting buyer funds from his cryptocurrency alternate.

Mary Altaffer/AP

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Mary Altaffer/AP

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrives at Manhattan federal court docket, Wednesday, July 26, 2023, in New York. Bankman-Fried is again in court docket in a prison case accusing him of looting buyer funds from his cryptocurrency alternate.

Mary Altaffer/AP

Prosecutors are asking a federal decide to place Sam Bankman-Fried in jail forward of his trial, which is scheduled to start out in October.

As he considers their request, the decide has imposed a broad, short-term gag order within the case.

There have been audible gasps within the courtroom on Wednesday when prosecutors instructed the decide they have been searching for Bankman-Fried’s detention. His protection legal professional, Mark S. Cohen, stated he was solely notified of the ask “one minute before court.”

Bankman-Fried has been dwelling beneath home arrest in his dad and mom’ dwelling in Northern California, close to the Stanford University campus, since December. He was launched on a $250 million bond.

The U.S. sought modifications to Bankman-Fried’s bail settlement after The New York Times revealed a chunk about Caroline Ellison, the previous head of the crypto hedge fund Bankman-Fried based.

Ellison can also be Bankman-Fried’s former girlfriend and a key witness for the prosecution. She pleaded responsible to fraud prices earlier this yr, and she or he is anticipated to testify towards him at trial.

Bankman-Fried not too long ago sat down for an interview with The Times, and confirmed a reporter a few of Ellison’s “private writings.” The prosecution argued this amounted to witness tampering, including it additionally might taint the jury pool.

The U.S. authorities says Bankman-Fried has had greater than 1,000 telephone calls with journalists since he was arrested. Prosecutors say he had greater than 100 calls with the reporter who wrote the Ellison story, a lot of which lasted longer than 20 minutes.

They additionally observe Bankman-Fried has had greater than 500 calls with creator Michael Lewis, who’s writing a guide concerning the disgraced crypto mogul’s rise and precipitous fall.

Bankman-Fried’s FTX was as soon as the preferred cryptocurrency alternate on this planet. At the top of final yr, FTX collapsed, and Bankman-Fried was arrested and charged with orchestrating one of many largest monetary frauds in historical past.

Unlike different high-profile defendants, he has ceaselessly communicated with the general public and reporters.

This is just not the primary time Judge Lewis Kaplan has thought of a request to switch the phrases of Bankman-Fried’s bail. He agreed to the federal government’s request to limit the defendant’s entry to the Internet after protectors found Bankman-Fried had used an encrypted messaging app to speak with a former colleague at FTX.

During these earlier proceedings, Kaplan appeared impatient with Bankman-Fried’s conduct, and requested attorneys for the Southern District of New York why they weren’t contemplating even stricter prohibitions on the defendant.

At the shut of at the moment’s listening to, Kaplan stated he takes the prosecution’s request, which he desires to see in writing by Friday, “very seriously.”

He then addressed the defendant immediately: “You better take it seriously too.”