SBF has said the conditions of his detention at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center have made it impossible for him to appropriately assess prosecutors’ proof against him and assist his lawyers build his defence case

Sam Bankman-Fried on Tuesday lost a bid to be released from jail so he can better prepare for his October 3 trial on fraud charges arising from the failure of his FTX crypto currency exchange, according to a court filing.

SBF has said the conditions of his detention at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center have made it impossible for him to appropriately assess prosecutors’ proof against him and assist his lawyers build his defence case.

But U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan stated in a written ruling that Bankman-Fried had not stated which pieces of evidence he had been unable to access. He also said Bankman-Fried had not asked for a trial delay, in spite of Kaplan’s offer to consider such a request.

Kaplan said he would consider a later, more detailed application for release.

Kaplan jailed the former billionaire on August 11 after finding that he possibly tampered with witnesses at least twice, including by sharing the personal writings of SBF’s former romantic partner and colleague Caroline Ellison with a NYT reporter.

Ellison, the former chief executive of SBF’s Alameda Research hedge fund, has pleaded guilty to fraud charges over the November 2022 failure of FTX and Alameda and is expected to testify against him at trial.

SBF has said he shared the documents to safeguard his reputation, not to intimidate Ellison. He has separately appealed Kaplan’s detention order. A three-judge panel from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is expected to hear arguments in that case on September 19.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan say SBF stole billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to plug losses at Alameda, buy real estate, and donate to U.S. political campaigns in an effort to burnish his influence in Washington.

SBF has pleaded not guilty. He has admitted insufficient risk management at FTX, but rejected stealing funds.