Sam Bankman-Fried issued gag order after accusation he leaked personal info of ex-girlfriend, business partner to the media

On Wednesday, a federal judge issued a gag order on former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried after prosecutors in his fraud case alleged he leaked his former girlfriend and business partner Caroline Ellison's personal writings to the media.

According to CNN, the prosecutor in the case, Assistant US Attorney Danielle Sasson, asked US District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan to jail Bankman-Fried for actively communicating with the media as part of an "ongoing campaign with the press that has now crossed a line."  

She alleged that he was the source for multiple stories leaked to the media. She referenced the "defendant’s history of obstruction in the form of setting auto deletion" in correspondences related to his business dealings and conduct. 

Sasson added that their team had "placed too much trust in the defendant," and not don't believe it is "possible to design a set of adequate release conditions."

Pointing to the 32 million pages of discovery documents, Bankman-Fried's attorney Mark Cohen argued, "This is a complex case involving complex financial transactions," which would make it "almost impossible to work with our client if he were remanded." 

After hearing both sides, Judge Kaplan said, "I am aware pretty fully about the document issues and the need for access by the defendant. I am certainly very mindful of his First Amendment rights. I am very mindful of the government’s interest in this issue, which I take very seriously." She added, "Mr. Bankman-Fried, you better take it seriously too."

In December, Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the US after he allegedly stole billions of dollars from FTX customers and was charged with 13 counts of fraud and campaign finance violations.

Last week, the Department of Justice withdrew five of the thirteen charges against Bankman-Fried, however, the agency told The Wall Street Journal, “The government will proceed on the new charges…if The Bahamas consents to trial on these charges, and will not proceed on those counts if The Bahamas denies the Government’s request.”

The counts were all added after his arrest and dealt with bank fraud and allegedly bribing a foreign government.