US Prosecutors Seek to Put SBF in Jail Before His Trial

The US federal prosecutors have asked the court to put SBF in jail before his trial scheduled for October, because the former FTX CEO has tried multiple times to interfere with the witnesses.

Previously, the New York Times published an article containing some private writings of former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, and it was thought that SBF intentionally leaked the information to the media. Assistant US attorney Danielle Sassoon said SBF had sent more than 100 emails to reporters and had more than 100 phone calls with the author of the NYT article. "It is the government's view that no set of release conditions can secure the safety of the community," she said.

SBF's lawyer Mark Cohen argued that SBF was trying to influence the media narrative about himself, and if put in jail, it would be very difficult for him to prepare for the trial.

Lewis Kaplan, judge of the Southern District of New York, didn't order to jail SBF immediately. Instead, he allowed both parties to argue their positions with formal written submissions before August 3. In addition, he signed off on an interim gag order, banning SBF from communicating with press or making public statements about his case.

Related: US DOJ Accuses SBF of Leaking Former Alameda Research CEO's Private Diary