US
prosecutors have accused Sam Bankman-Fried, the embattled Founder of
now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, of sharing personal documents belonging to Caroline Ellison, his former ally and romantic partner, with the media. The
Department of Justice (DoJ) made the allegations yesterday (Thursday) in a
filing addressed to Lewis Kaplan, the US District Judge presiding over the case
between the
prosecutors and the ex-CEO of FTX.
Ellison is
the former CEO of FTX’s sister trading firm Alameda Research. In December 2022,
a month after FTX’s collapse, Ellison alongside Zixiao (Gary) Wang, the former Chief
Technology Officer of FTX, pleaded guilty to criminal charges initiated
by the DoJ. Ellison and Wang also started cooperating with public authorities
in their investigation into FTX’s demise.
On
Thursday, the New York Times published an article in which it wrote that it reviewed certain Google
documents written by Ellison. The documents reportedly contain observations about the
personal and professional relationship between the former Alameda Research boss
and Bankman-Fried.
The outlet
described details in the documents as ‘personal and raw’, adding that the documents illustrate
the complexity of the relationship between Bankman-Fried and Ellison. However,
the publication did not disclose how it got the
document.
In the
court filing submitted yesterday, the DoJ attributed the ‘extrajudicial statements’
to Bankman-Fried, noting that the crypto entrepreneur’s lawyers confirmed that
the FTX’s Founder met in person one of the reporters by-lined in the article.
The lawyers also reportedly admitted that Bankman-Fried shared documents that are not part
of the prosecutors’ discovery material with the said reporter. However, the enforcement agency believes that the documents “likely came from the
[Bankman-Fried’s] personal Google Drive account.”
“The
defendant’s purpose in sharing these materials is plain. Ellison has pleaded
guilty to a cooperation agreement and is expected to testify at trial that she
agreed with the defendant to defraud FTX’s customers and investors, and
Alameda’s lenders,” Damian Williams, the United District Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, explained in the filing.
“By
selectively sharing certain private documents…
