U.S. prosecutors have made allegations against Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, accusing him of witness tampering. They have requested a federal judge to issue an order to prevent Bankman-Fried and other parties from making public statements that could potentially interfere with a fair trial.
The accusations stem from a New York Times article titled “Inside the Private Writings of Caroline Ellison, Star Witness in the FTX Case,” where excerpts from Caroline Ellison’s personal Google documents were disclosed. In these documents, Ellison expressed her discontent with her job and emotional distress following her breakup with Bankman-Fried.
Caroline Ellison previously led Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research hedge fund and has pleaded guilty to defrauding investors. As part of her cooperation with prosecutors, she agreed to provide information related to the case.
Prosecutors contend that Bankman-Fried shared documents with the New York Times, and his lawyers confirmed that he had a personal meeting with one of the authors, during which he shared additional documents not previously part of the government’s discovery materials.
The prosecutors assert that Bankman-Fried’s actions are an attempt to discredit Caroline Ellison and undermine her credibility as a witness. They worry that such behaviour could potentially intimidate other witnesses, hampering their willingness to testify and influencing the jury’s perspective.
