Federal prosecutors accused Sam Bankman-Fried of leaking Caroline Ellison’s private paperwork behind his protection counsel’s again (Image: AP)
Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried allegedly leaked the private notes of Caroline Ellison, his ex-girlfriend and ex-business accomplice, to the New York Occasions.
Bankman-Fried, the 31-year-old cryptocurrency mogul at present dealing with costs of wire fraud and securities fraud, was accused of portraying Ellison as a ‘jilted lover’ as jury choice begins for his March 2024 trial.
Federal prosecutors on the Southern District of New York argued that Bankman-Fried’s actions quantity to harassment of Ellison, who is ready to testify towards him as a cooperating witness.
Ellison, 28 was the previous CEO of Alameda Analysis, a cryptocurrency buying and selling agency that served as a liquidity supplier for FTX.
Caroline Ellison served as CEO of Alameda Analysis, a hedge fund intently tied to crypto alternate FTX (Image: LINKEDIN)
Alameda Analysis filed for chapter in November 2022, shortly after FTX misplaced over $1billion in buyer funds.
Bankman-Fried and Ellison met whereas they each labored at hedge fund Jane Road Capital. The 2 dated on and off through the years.
When Bankman-Fried left Jane Road in 2017 to start out Alameda Analysis, he shortly recruited Ellison as a dealer for the brand new agency. He promoted her to CEO in 2021.
In December, Ellison took a plea deal and pleaded responsible to 2 counts of wire fraud, in addition to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, cash laundering, and securities fraud.
Prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of making an attempt to painting Ellison as a ‘jilted lover’ (Image: Twitter)
On Thursday, the New York Occasions printed parts of Ellison’s personal writings, which look like excerpts from a private diary.
The excerpts present Ellison expressing dissatisfaction along with her work at Alameda and expressing doubts about her position as CEO.
In a single doc addressed to Bankman-Fried, Ellison tells the founder she ‘considerably decreased my pleasure about Alameda’ after breaking apart with him in April 2022.
Sam Bankman-Fried is taken into custody within the Bahamas after being charged in the USA (Image: AP)
The identical day, SDNY prosecutors despatched a letter to the courtroom, accusing Bankman-Fried of making an attempt to discredit their star witness.
‘The defendant has sought to publicly discredit a authorities witness by sharing her private writings with a reporter in order that these personal paperwork might be featured in a New York Occasions article printed at this time,’ the letter addressed to Decide Lewis Kaplan reads.
‘The defendant’s goal in sharing these supplies is obvious,’ the letter reads. They argued that Bankman-Fried is making an attempt to ‘forged Ellison in a poor gentle’ and painting her as ‘a jilted lover who perpetrated these crimes.’
Prosecutors mentioned the leak may probably taint the jury pool and have a chilling impact on Ellison and different witnesses.
A courtroom sketch artist captures the second Bankman-Fried pleads not responsible to federal costs of wire fraud, securities fraud, and conspiracy (Image: REUTERS)
In keeping with prosecutors, Bankman-Fried’s personal protection attorneys confirmed that the disgraced founder met with one of many NYT reporters and ‘shared paperwork with him that weren’t a part of the Authorities’s discovery materials.’
Prosecutors consider these paperwork got here from Bankman-Fried’s personal Google Drive account.
A footnote within the letter additionally states that Bankman-Fried’s attorneys have been ‘not conscious of the defendant’s conduct till contacted about it by the federal government.’
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