Former head of cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, was returned to jail in New York on Friday by a federal judge who found he broke the rules of his probation.
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The prosecutor’s office accused Sam Bankman-Fried of witness manipulation.
In particular, according to the prosecutor, he submitted documents to the New York Times in order to influence the testimony of Caroline Ellison, a former executive of his investment company Alameda, who was charged and agreed to cooperate with the American authorities.
At the end of the hearing, Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York ordered the defendants to be taken into custody by the US Marshalls, the federal intelligence agency responsible for detainees.
Prior to his trial, he was placed under house arrest with his parents in California after posting $250 million bail.
The “SBF,” as he was nicknamed, accused of fraud and criminal association, was extradited from the Bahamas, where FTX’s headquarters were located, at the end of December 2022.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him over the months. His trial is scheduled to begin in New York in October.