FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Accused of Leaking Private Papers

The creator of FTX, a significant international cryptocurrency exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), is being sued by the US Department of Justice (DoJ). Caroline Ellison, a former business partner and love companion of his, was the subject of a complaint from the DoJ accusing SBF of disclosing her personal documents. The accusations include that SBF shared her private writings with a reporter in an effort to undermine Ellison, who ended up testifying for the government in his case.

The DoJ’s Accusations

In a complaint submitted on July 20 by U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, the DoJ accuses Bankman-Fried of trying to obstruct a fair trial by attacking Ellison in the stolen materials. In a piece written by The New York Times, Ellison’s personal troubles and professional concerns were discussed in his private letters. Although the story did not specify where the papers came from, the DoJ thinks it was obvious that SBF had shared them.

The DoJ claims that the papers don’t appear to be from the government’s discovery materials in the case and instead appear to be from SBF’s personal Google Drive account. U.S. federal norms of civil process prohibit the disclosure of non-public material that would impede a fair trial, and the government asks the court to issue an order prohibiting such extrajudicial utterances.

FTX’s Troubled Past

Mid-November 2022 saw the fall of FTX, previously a key international cryptocurrency exchange. Along with deeper problems pertaining to the connection between FTX and Alameda Research, the incident was also influenced by the liquidity crisis of the company’s FTT token and the bear market of 2022.

By the beginning of December 2022, several lawsuits had been brought against SBF as a result of the collapse of his crypto empire. SBF is currently being accused of significant offenses like fraud, alleged unlawful political contributions, and paying bribes to the Chinese government. On October 2, he is due in court to answer for these allegations.