According to Cointelegraph: Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX and a convicted fraudster, failed to convince a United States appellate court that he should be released from jail while his legal team appeals his conviction. According to a Nov. 21 mandate, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit highlighted Bankman-Fried's past witness tampering attempts, while he was on pretrial release, as a key reason for rejecting his request for release.
According to government prosecutors, Bankman-Fried leaked Caroline Ellison's diaries to The New York Times in July, leading to his bail being revoked by a New York District Court. Bankman-Fried appealed this decision, claiming that the New York court failed to acknowledge that his actions were protected under the First Amendment's freedom of speech provision. The appellate court disagreed, stating that witness tampering falls outside constitutional protections.
Bankman-Fried's legal team also claimed that the district court didn't consider less restricting options to incarceration. This argument was also dismissed with the court stating that all relevant factors were thoroughly considered by the district court.
Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, was found guilty of seven fraud- and money laundering-related charges on Nov. 2. He will stay in jail while awaiting his sentencing on March 28 of next year.
