By Shubham Kalia and Gokur Pishalodi

(Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors have charged FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried with witness tampering and requested a federal choose to situation an order barring the previous billionaire and others from talking publicly that might impede a good trial.

The prosecution despatched a letter to U.S. District Decide Louis Kaplan on Thursday, referring to a New York Instances article titled “Contained in the Personal Correspondence of FTX Star Witness Caroline Ellison.”

The article stories excerpts from Ellison’s private Google (NASDAQ:) paperwork earlier than the FTX chapter, through which she stated she was “fairly dissatisfied and overwhelmed” along with her job and felt “harm/rejected” by her breakup with Bankman-Fried.

Ellison, who heads Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Analysis hedge fund, pleaded responsible to deceiving traders and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Bankman-Fried stated in December that he was in a relationship with Ellison, however gave no additional particulars.

Prosecutors stated it was clear Bankman-Fried shared paperwork with the New York Instances, after which legal professionals confirmed to the federal government that Bankman-Fried had met in particular person with one of many authors and shared paperwork “that weren’t a part of the federal government’s discovery supplies.”

A spokeswoman for Bankman-Fried and an lawyer didn’t reply to a request for remark. Neither the New York Instances nor Ellison’s lawyer responded to Reuters’ request for remark.

Prosecutors argued that Bankman-Fried sought to undermine Ellison’s credibility by sharing the paperwork and that such actions might wither witness testimony and taint jurors.

“By selectively sharing sure personal paperwork with the New York Instances, the prosecution wrote, “Defendants are looking for to discredit witnesses, create a foul impression of Ellison, and thru the press to advance a protection outdoors the confines of the courtroom and the foundations of proof, that Ellison was an agitated lover who dedicated these crimes alone,” the prosecution wrote.

Earlier Thursday, FTX Buying and selling sued founder Bankman Fried and different former executives of different cryptocurrency exchanges, looking for restoration of greater than $1 billion that FTX allegedly embezzled earlier than it went bankrupt.