A judge yesterday closed the door on FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s hopes to be free during his trial, although he extended the hours that the cryptocurrency peddler can meet with his lawyers in a federal courthouse, the Associated Press reported. At a hearing, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan rejected a request by Bankman-Fried’s lawyers to free their client so he could better prepare his defense against charges that he defrauded cryptocurrency investors. Bankman-Fried, 31, faces the start of his trial Tuesday in Manhattan. He has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, Mark Cohen, told Kaplan that he cannot meaningfully confer with his client as long as Bankman-Fried is jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. He also insisted that there was no risk that Bankman-Fried would flee, prompting Judge Kaplan to interrupt him. “The closer we get to trial, the more I’m wondering about that,” Judge Kaplan said. "Your client, if there is conviction, could be looking at a very long sentence. If things begin to look bleak — maybe he feels that now — if that were to happen and if he had the opportunity, maybe the time would come that he would seek to flee.” Judge Kaplan revoked Bankman-Fried's $250 million bond last month after concluding that Bankman-Fried had tried to influence potential trial witnesses.
