Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX has just hit another legal dead end.
According to a recent ruling by a US appeal court, Bankman-Fried has no choice but to remain in jail, after making a grave mistake with the diary of former girlfriend and co-conspirator, Caroline Ellison earlier this year.
The court has ruled that Bankman-Fried poses a risk of obstructing justice, and has denied all motions of release because of the defendant's alleged "witness tampering".
The 31-year-old SBF was arrested a few months after the widely covered FTX implosion in November 2022.
Bankman-Fried was initially charged with fraud and money laundering but then granted pretrial release on a $10 million bond.
However, his bail was revoked in July, after he was accused of leaking the confidential diaries of a key witness, Caroline Ellison, to The New York Times.
According to the prosecuting counsel, SBF leaked these diaries to discredit Ellison's testimony against him and put a hole in the prosecution's case.
However, Bankman-Fried has denied these allegations, and has declared that he was simply "exercising his right to free speech".
Bankman also argued that before he leaked them, the diaries were already in the public domain. Bankman-Fried says that he did not know they were confidential.
When this bail motion was rejected, SBF went to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit for reconsideration, hoping to be released while his legal team found a way to challenge the guilty verdict he was recently served on Thursday, 3 November.
Recall that the FTX founder was found guilty of seven counts of fraud and money laundering, after a jury trial that lasted for three weeks.
However, the appellate court rejected Bankman-Fried's appeal on Nov. 21, agreeing with the decision of the New York District Court.
According to the appellate court, Bankman-Fried's previous attempts to tamper with two witnesses, Ellison and another former FTX employee, showed that he was a danger to the community and the integrity of the judicial process.
The court also dismissed Bankman-Fried's arguments that the district court failed to consider a less restrictive alternative to detention or his First Amendment rights.
However, the appellate court maintained that the district court "thoroughly considered" all relevant factors and that Bankman-Fried's "witness tampering" mistake makes him ineligible for "constitutional protection".
SBF faces up to 20 years in prison for each count of fraud and money laundering, totalling more than a century of prison time.
And until late March 2024 when his sentencing will finally be passed, Bankman-Fried is set to remain behind bars.
Spectacularly!
For some reason, FTT has been on a tear lately and has almost increased by 300% in November alone.
The cryptocurrency is facing resistance somewhere around $4.7 – $4.84 at the time of writing.
FTT is trading right on top of its 20-day EMA (red line) and appears poised to break right above and retake 10 November's $5.4.
The cryptocurrency's RSI is currently in the bullish zone, indicating that the bulls are in control.
According to the Fibonacci retracement tool drawn on the hourly charts above, we can see that if FTT successfully breaks past $4.84, the price targets include $5.55 and $6.7.
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