12-8-2023 (NEW YORK) US District Judge Lewis Kaplan has taken the decision to detain Sam Bankman-Fried after prosecutors brought forward evidence suggesting that he attempted to intimidate a key witness in his fraud case last month.
The 31-year-old entrepreneur stands accused of defrauding US investors in a scheme allegedly involving the embezzlement of billions of dollars, a portion of which was reportedly directed towards significant political donations. Bankman-Fried maintains his innocence and has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him.
The verdict was delivered by Judge Kaplan who stated that he had found substantial reason to believe that Bankman-Fried had made attempts to interfere with witnesses on at least two separate occasions since his arrest in December.
Following the court’s decision, Bankman-Fried was escorted out of the hearing held in a federal court in Manhattan while being restrained by members of the US Marshals Service. As a precaution, he had removed his shoelaces, jacket, tie, and emptied his pockets prior to his departure.
Formerly recognized as a billionaire and colloquially referred to as the ‘crypto king’, Bankman-Fried had been placed under house arrest at his parents’ residence in California subsequent to his extradition from the Bahamas.
