A US federal judge on Friday ordered FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried back to prison after prosecutors argued he had violated the conditions of his bail and tampered with witnesses, less than two months before his trial. The 31-year-old Mr Bankman-Fried has <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/us-news/2022/12/22/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-bahamas-us/" target="_blank">pleaded not guilty to charges of wire fraud</a> and <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/cryptocurrencies/2023/01/12/ftx-founder-sam-bankman-fried-denies-stealing-funds-and-stashing-billions/" target="_blank">conspiracy to commit money laundering</a>, as well as breaching election finance rules, in connection with the spectacular collapse of his cryptocurrency firm. US District Judge Lewis Kaplan directed Mr Bankman-Fried back into federal custody citing “probable cause … that the defendant has committed the federal crime of attempted witness tampering”, the ruling said. Prosecutors argued that Mr Bankman-Fried's activities as a source for <i>The</i> <i>New York Times</i> amounted to witness intimidation, citing an article containing private writings of Caroline Ellison, who formerly worked at Alameda Research. Ms Ellison, who was romantically involved with Mr Bankman-Fried, is a co-operating witness in the government's case. Mr Bankman-Fried is due to go on trial in early October. FTX and its sister trading house Alameda Research went bankrupt in November, dissolving a virtual trading business that at one point had been valued by the market at $32 billion. Prosecutors allege Mr Bankman-Fried – who had been released on $250 million bail and confined to his parents' California home before Friday's ruling – <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/business/money/2023/03/16/sam-bankman-fried-transferred-22bn-in-ftx-customer-funds-for-personal-use-filings-show/" target="_blank">cheated investors and misused funds that belonged to FTX</a> and Alameda Research clients. The former FTX chief had appeared on the covers of finance and tech magazines, with <i>Fortune</i> likening him to Warren Buffett, and drew in huge investments from prominent fund managers and venture capitalists. But it all imploded when a media report said Alameda's balance sheet was heavily built on a token created by FTX with no independent value – and exposed Mr Bankman-Fried's companies as being dangerously interlinked. Mr Bankman-Fried was arrested at his apartment in the Bahamas on December 12 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York. A Bahamas permanent resident, he spent nine days in prison, weighing his choices before <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/us-news/2022/12/22/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-bahamas-us/" target="_blank">deciding not to fight extradition</a> to the US.