Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, or SBF, was refused early release by a three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Circuit Judges John M. Walker Jr., Denny Chin, and William Nardini dismissed SBF's plea for early release on September 21, citing First Amendment concerns. According to the ruling, Lewis Kaplan, the judge hearing SBF's criminal case, "correctly determined" that Bankman-Fried's statement constituted witness tampering.

"The record shows that the district court thoroughly considered all of the relevant factors, including [Bankman-Fried's] course of conduct over time, which had required the district court to repeatedly tighten the conditions of release," the Sept. 21 judgment stated. "It also demonstrates that the district court considered a less restrictive alternative offered by [SBF] — an order limiting his communications with the press — but reasonably concluded that this was not a 'workable solution in the long run."

The judges went on to say:

“The district court did not err in concluding that [SBF] had failed to rebut the presumption in favor of detention. We have reviewed [the defense team’s] additional arguments and find them unpersuasive.”

Bankman-Fried previously admitted to giving a New York Times writer access to former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison's private notebooks, which resulted in some of their contents being published – a move authorities classified as witness intimidation.

SBF's lawyers pushed for his early release from jail, claiming that his inability to prepare a sufficient case for his criminal trial was due to a lack of constant internet access.

The court had been debating on the matter following a hearing on September 19 in which both the Justice Department and SBF's defense team had around five minutes to submit their claims for SBF's continued detention and early release, respectively.

On August 11, Judge Kaplan revoked SBF's $250 million bail, and he was returned to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/judges-deny-sam-bankman-fried-s-appeal-for-early-release