Judge revokes Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail, jailing FTX founder ahead of October trial

The Department of Justice previously pushed to revoke Bankman-Fried’s bail in late July

article-image

lev radin/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail has been revoked.

The revocation was handed down during a Friday court hearing dedicated to deciding whether the FTX founder’s bail should be pulled. Bankman-Fried will be held in custody ahead of his impending trial, scheduled for October of this year. 

In his ruling, Judge Lewis Kaplan reportedly said there was probable cause to believe that Bankman-Fried had attempted to tamper with the witnesses, and therefore violated the terms of his bail.

The Department of Justice previously pushed to revoke Bankman-Fried’s bail in late July, arguing that the FTX founder’s bail conditions were “insufficient.”

The DOJ cited a few instances where Bankman-Fried had violated his bail, with the most recent happening on July 20. Federal prosecutors have accused Bankman-Fried of witness tampering after he allegedly attempted to discredit the former head of Alameda, Caroline Ellison, by leaking her diary entries to the New York Times

However, prosecutors didn’t take issue with Bankman-Fried’s communications with the press, saying he has the right to “speak and defend himself.” But they alleged that Bankman-Fried has “repeatedly” tried to “corruptly influence witnesses and interfere with a fair trial through attempted public harassment and shaming.”

Just last week, the DOJ announced the impending filing of a superseding indictment to incorporate the campaign finance charges — which had previously been dropped —  into seven existing charges.

“The defendant’s use of customer deposits to conduct a political influence campaign was part of the wire fraud scheme charged in the original indictment. And as part of the originally charged money laundering scheme, the defendant also concealed the source of his fraudulent proceeds through political straw donations,” the DOJ said in the letter.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

  • Blockworks Daily: The newsletter that helps thousands of investors understand crypto and the markets, by Byron Gilliam.
  • Empire: Start your morning with the top news and analysis to inform your day in crypto.
  • Forward Guidance: Reporting and analysis on the growing intersection of crypto and macroeconomics, policy and finance.
  • 0xResearch: Alpha directly in your inbox. Market highlights, data, degen trade ideas, governance updates, token performance and more.
  • Lightspeed: Built for Solana investors, developers and community members. The latest from one of crypto’s hottest networks.
  • The Drop: For crypto collectors and traders, covering apps, games, memes and more.
Tags

Upcoming Events

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

Research Report Templates (5).png

Research

Outside of stablecoins, the value of tokenized assets sits below $20B, dominated by the following asset classes: private credit, US Treasuries, commodities, institutional alternative funds, stocks, non-US government debt, and corporate bonds. In the coming months, we see the greatest opportunities in the tokenization of illiquid markets, particularly private equity. However, the successful integration of offchain assets into blockchain ecosystems relies heavily on clear and consistent regulatory frameworks, with purpose-built infrastructure to support it.

article-image

Tokenized private equity is the next “greatest” opportunity, BWR analyst Carlos Gonzalez Campo writes

article-image

Today Blockworks is launching Analytics 2.0, our greatly improved crypto data and analytics platform

article-image

Ethena and Securitize’s Converge will launch within the next three months

article-image

Sponsored

Ledn has positioned itself as a trusted CeFi leader in Bitcoin-backed lending

article-image

Yesterday marked the five-year anniversary of Solana’s genesis block

article-image

The Digital Asset Summit will feature TradFi and government reps speaking on broader adoption and who’s buying in