There will probably be no more home-cooked meals for Sam Bankman-Fried.
The fallen crypto king has been holed up at his parents’ home in Palo Alto since pleading not guilty to fraud charges stemming from FTX’s collapse. But this afternoon in a Manhattan courtroom, a judge revoked Bankman-Fried’s bail, ordering him to go directly to jail before his trial scheduled to begin on October 2.
“My conclusion is there may be probable cause to imagine the defendant tried to tamper with witnesses at the least twice,” said Judge Lewis A. Kaplan during his ruling.
According to CNBC, court marshals took Bankman-Fried into custody after the hearing. He removed his jacket, tie, and shoes and emptied his pockets. A reporter for CNBC, who was within the courtroom, said that Bankman Fried’s mother had her face buried in her hands through the ruling.
Related: When in Doubt, Don’t: 4 Lessons to Learn from the Crypto Implosion
Accused of witness tampering
Prosecutors alleged that Bankman-Fried shared emails from his former girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, with The Latest York Times to intimidate her before his trial in October. Additionally they said that Bankman-Fried leaked information to other journalists, including Michael Lewis, who’s writing a book about FTX.
Last January, prosecutors argued that Bankman-Fried was sending messages to a former FTX executive who was a possible witness within the case, according to the Times. Additionally they said Bankman-Fried was using VPN to access the web and sending encrypted messages on Signal.
Judge Lewis responded by banning Bankman-Fried from contacting current or former employees. But, the order was not obeyed, and Bankman-Friend will now have to prep for his trial from a jail cell.
At press time, it was not clear where Bankman-Friend can be held. Prosecutors requested a jail in Putnam, Latest York, so he could access a laptop with web. But the closest jail to the courthouse is the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, which has limited web access for prisoners.