Bankman-Fried Agrees To Gag Order; House Arrest Could Be In Jeopardy Following Judge's Summon

Disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried is currently under house arrest after he posted bail and agreed to the conditions set by the court. However, his temporary freedom could be in jeopardy after the judge summoned him following his agreement to the gag order that prevents him and his lawyers from discussing the case. This came after the prosecution alleged he was trying to discredit a material witness, Caroline Ellison, by leaking her journal to the New York Times.

U.S District Judge Lewis Kaplan summoned Sam, the co-founder and former CEO of the now-defunct crypto empire FTX, to appear in a federal court in New York in relation to the "adequacy and continuation" of his bail, underlining that the house arrest he is currently enjoying could be cut short.

Judge Lewis also needs to approve the gag order, which Sam has already agreed to, preventing him and his lawyers from discussing the case in public after prosecutors alleged that the crypto executive, who was once regarded as the golden boy of cryptocurrency, has been trying to discredit Ellison, the former CEO of the hedge fund he co-founded, the Alameda Research.

The gag order proposed that the defendant and his camp refrain from discussing anything with the press about the case that may interfere with the fair trial, including statements impacting witnesses' credibility, details not admissible to court and any other matters that could influence the public's opinion of the case.

Moreover, the proposed order asked the court to personally restrict Sam from using "surrogates, family members, spokespersons, representatives or volunteers" to give statements on his behalf.

Prosecutors filed the gag order in Manhattan Monday after the New York Times ran a story centered on the entries of Ellison in her personal journals, which painted the former Alameda Research CEO as indecisive in the crypto empire and her relationship with Sam, as the two are believed to be in an on-again, off-again relationship for years.

Prosecutors submitted a letter to the court alleging that Sam leaked the material to the publication with the intent to "cast Ellison in a poor light, and advance his defense through the press."

Sam's legal team, in its response to the gag order, requested the court to extend the media gag order to include possible witnesses in the case, including the current CEO of FTX, John Ray III.

The current management of the now-defunct crypto empire FTX alleged that Gabriel Bankman-Fried, the younger brother of Sam, previously considered buying the entire island nation of Nauru to serve as the place for an apocalypse bunker and to be the spot for a laboratory that handles the development of genetically enhanced humans.