US DoJ accuses FTX founder of leaking private diary of Caroline Ellison
The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) filed a complaint against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), accusing him of leaking the private papers of Caroline Ellison, who was once his business ally and romantic partner.
In a new complaint filed on July 20, the DoJ accused Bankman-Fried of an attempt to interfere with a fair trial by publicly discrediting Ellison, who became a government witness in SBF’s case in late 2022.
SBF sought to publicly discredit a government witness by sharing her personal writings with a reporter so that those private documents would be featured in an article published by The New York Times on July 20, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams argued in the complaint.
In her diary, Ellison described feeling overwhelmed by her job at Alameda Research, alongside other things like the pain from her romantic break up with SBF and her professional insecurities.
Though the article didn’t indicate who provided the documents to the NYT, it “is apparent” that documents were shared by Bankman-Fried, Williams stated. He wrote:
The attorney went on to say that based on the excerpts in the article, the documents “do not appear to be within the discovery materials in the case, but likely came from the defendant’s personal Google Drive account.”
Related: FTX claims portal becomes unavailable shortly after going live
Williams then wrote that the U.S. federal rules of civil procedure prohibit lawyers and their agents from releasing non-public information that may interfere with a fair trial. As such, the government requests that the court enter an order, pursuant to Local Rule 23.1, which proscribes “extrajudicial statements by parties and witnesses” that are likely to interfere with the right to a fair trial by an
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