Sam Bankman-Fried Accused of Leaking Writings, Witness Tampering
The Facts
Federal prosecutors are accusing former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (commonly referred to as "SBF") of leaking the personal writings of his former girlfriend and business partner, Caroline Ellison, to the New York Times in act of witness tampering by portraying her in an unfavorable light.
In a letter to US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, the prosecutors say SBF gave the Times access to Ellison’s private writings for Thursday’s piece titled "Inside the Private Writings of Caroline Ellison, Star Witness in the FTX Case." They add that the documents weren’t part of the government’s discovery material.
The Spin
Narrative A
Sam Bankman-Fried continues to show an untenable lack of judgment — including leaking the intimate and personal writings of Caroline Ellison to discredit her as a witness. These moves inflict emotional damage and, while Ellison may have been involved in FTX’s crimes, her misdeed pale in comparison to SBF's crimes.
Narrative B
Birds of a feather flock together, and Caroline Ellison seems just as wrapped up in the FTX fraud scandal as SBF. The truth is that neither of these individuals is a victim, and both co-orchestrated one of the largest financial fraud scandals in history.
