Sam Bankman-Fried loses bid for temporary release from jail: reports

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried lost a fresh bid to be released from jail ahead of his trial next week, according to multiple reports. 

Attorneys for Bankman-Fried had asked a New York district court judge on Monday for a temporary release, arguing that it was "necessary for the preparation of [his] defense."

"We submit that we are finding it exceedingly difficult as a practical matter to adequately prepare for trial with the restrictions on access currently in place," his lawyers had said. "This is not a point we make lightly but it is the reality of the nature of this case."

Prosecutors argued in a letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan on Wednesday that Bankman-Fried's request for release should be denied. 

Bankman-Fried had resources before he was jailed in August, prosecutors said. 

"Many of the accommodations provided by the MDC [Metropolitan Detention Center] and the BOP [Bureau of Prisons]—including the use of two personal airgapped computers in different locations for added convenience and the MDC’s hand-receipt and delivery of hard-drive materials to the defendant—are accommodations beyond those accorded to most detainees," they said.

Witness tampering

Bankman-Fried also lost an appeal to be released from jail ahead of his trial last week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He was sent to await trial in jail in August after prosecutors accused him of witness tampering by leaking the private diary of former colleague and ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison to the New York Times and using an encrypted message app to contact a potential witness. 

Bankman-Fried did score some wins this week, after the judge approved a request that will allow him to change into a suit each morning of his trial. He will also be able to use a laptop in the courtroom, but it won't be connected to the internet.