- Sam Bankman-Fried is suspected of leaking Caroline Ellison’s personal diary, according to the Department of Justice
- The leaked diary entries revealed Ellison’s doubts about her job and her breakup with Bankman-Fried
- The government requested an order to ban Bankman-Fried from further leaking material to prevent interference with a fair trial
Sam Bankman-Fried is suspected of being responsible for leaking former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison’s personal diary, according to the Department of Justice (DoJ). Extracts from the diary appeared in the New York Times last week, leading to the DoJ informing the judge in the federal case against Bankman-Fried that the former FTX CEO was behind the leak and asked him to ban him from leaking any more extracts in case it prejudiced her trial.
Ellison Doubted Her Own Abilities
Ellison’s leaked diary entries showed that the 27-year-old was already doubting her ability to do her job as far as February 2022, saying that she was feeling “pretty unhappy and overwhelmed with my job” and that she “can’t wait to go home and turn off my phone and have a drink and get away from it all.”
At the time, Ellison was going through a breakup with Bankman-Fried, which she said was “making things weird” and “causing drama,” while also being worried that she was not well suited to running Alameda and doubted her leadership qualities. During the same period, she wrote, rather ironically, that it felt like there was “no end in sight.” Of course, FTX collapsed nine months later.
Attorney General Demands Action
In a letter to the judge in the case against Bankman-Fried, Attorney General Damian Williams said that Bankman-Fried had “sought to publicly discredit a government witness by sharing her personal writings with a reporter,” adding that “such efforts have the potential to taint the jury pool, and could have a chilling effect on witnesses.”
Because of this, the government requested “an order that limits extrajudicial statements by parties and witnesses likely to interfere with a fair trial by an impartial jury,” essentially banning Bankman-Fried from leaking any more material.
Williams added that “In addition to tainting the jury pool, the effect, if not the intent, of the defendant’s conduct is not only to harass Ellison, but also to deter other potential trial witnesses from testifying.”
It is expected that the judge will rule this week on the matter, likely after Bankman-Fried’s counsel has had its say on the matter.
