US prosecutors seek to detain Sam Bankman-Fried pending trial

The federal prosecutors have sought to change the pretrial release conditions for former FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) and to detain him until the case is heard in October, Reuters reports.

According to prosecutor Daniel Sassun, keeping Bankman-Fried at liberty \”cannot guarantee public safety\”.

The prosecution’s request followed after the founder of the beleaguered bitcoin exchange handed over to a New York Times reporter the personal records of Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research. In Sassun’s view, this signals an intent to discredit a witness in the case.

Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that all participants in the proceedings are barred from discussing case materials with the press. SBF’s attorney noted that his client agrees with the request, but it should also apply to prosecution witnesses.

A ruling on the defendant’s pretrial detention is due on August 3.

During the July 26 hearing, prosecutors also dropped the charge that Bankman-Fried financed certain politicians under a deal with the defense, The Block reports.

Earlier, SBF was charged with 13 criminal offenses. He pleaded not guilty to any of the charges, including the bribery of a Chinese official.

In December 2022, the founder of FTX was arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the United States, where he was released on a $250 million bail.

In the same month, Caroline Ellison and the exchange’s tech director Gary Wang pleaded guilty to charges related to the collapse of the platform and agreed to cooperate with investigators.

The former head of Alameda Research testified about price manipulation of the FTT utility token and confirmed the facts of deliberate deception of creditors.

Ahead of the October hearing, SBF’s lawyers filed the dismissal of most charges, including those relating to financing politicians.