Sam Bankman-Fried Appeals Decision to Hold Him in Jail While Awaiting Trial

Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and former CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, appealed a federal judge's decision to jail him while he's awaiting his Oct. 3 trial over the exchange's collapse.

Bankman-Fried's lawyers claimed he was being punished for using his First Amendment right to free speech and that the courts did not prove he had attempted to tamper with witnesses while being held on bail.

On Friday, Bankman-Fried's lawyers objected to his detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn in a letter addressed to Judge Lewis Kaplan, who had revoked Bankman-Fried's bail and ordered him to jail on Aug. 11.

The judge revoked Bankman-Fried's bail after he shared with the New York Times personal diary entries from his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison, who ran FTX's trading arm Alameda Research and is the prosecution's star witness. His lawyers argued that his contact with witnesses and a reporter during the pre-trial period was protected by the First Amendment.

His lawyers also claimed last Tuesday that Bankman-Fried, who is vegan, has been forced to subsist on bread, water and occasionally peanut butter, and that he has not received ordered prescriptions to treat depression and attention deficit disorder since being in jail.

Bankman-Fried pleaded "not guilty" last Tuesday to seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering.

The former crypto wunderkind is facing 13 criminal charges related to the collapse of FTX in November 2022, including allegations that he stole billions of dollars from customers while misleading investors and lenders. A federal judge in June dismissed Bankman-Fried's request to have some charges discarded.

FTX was valued at $32 billion in early 2022 and was one of the largest crypto exchanges in the world. 

Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang pleaded guilty in December to several charges, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

Recent documentation uncovered from Ellison, including journal entries and to-do lists, will be included as evidence in the Oct. 3 trial.