A US judge has revoked Sam Bankman-Fried's bail, after finding probable cause that the indicted founder of the bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange tampered with witnesses at least twice.
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan announced the decision at a hearing in federal court in Manhattan, less than two months before the scheduled October fraud trial.
He rejected a defense request to delay Mr Bankman-Fried's detention pending appeal of the bail revocation.
The decision could complicate Mr Bankman-Fried's efforts to prepare for trial, where the 31-year-old former billionaire faces charges of having stolen billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to plug losses at his Alameda Research hedge fund.
Mr Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty.
He was led out of the courtroom by members of the US Marshals Service in handcuffs after removing his shoelaces, jacket and tie and emptying his pockets.
Mr Bankman-Fried has been largely confined to his parents' Palo Alto, California, home on $250 million bond since his December 2022 arrest.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan first made their surprise request to jail Mr Bankman-Fried last month, saying he "crossed a line" by sharing former romantic partner and Alameda Chief Executive Caroline Ellison's personal writings with a New York Times reporter.
As part of his bail conditions, prosecutors had been able to monitor his telephone and internet activity.
Judge Kaplan said he was concerned that Mr Bankman-Fried showed the writings to the reporter during an in-person meeting at his parents' home.
"It was a way, in his view, of doing this in a manner in which he was least likely to be caught," Judge Kaplan said. "He was covering his tracks."
His lawyers said prosecutors mischaracterised his intentions in sharing Ms Ellison's writings, arguing he wanted to defend his reputation and that he had a right to speak to the press.
Ms Ellison and two other former members of Mr Bankman-Fried's inner circle have pleaded guilty to fraud and agreed to cooperate with the US Attorney's Office in Manhattan.
She ise xpected to testify against him at his scheduled 2 October trial.
At a hearing on 26 July, Judge Kaplan had restricted Mr Bankman-Fried from speaking publicly about his case, and asked both sides to address whether jail was necessary.
The gag order has drawn attention from news media, including the Times, which in an 2 August letter to the judge said the measure should be loosened to only restrict comments that could interfere with a fair trial.
A 20 July article in the newspaper contained excerpts from Ms Ellison's personal Google documents prior to FTX's collapse.
She described being "unhappy and overwhelmed" with her joba nd feeling "hurt/rejected" from her personal breakup with Mr Bankman-Fried.
