Sam Bankman-Fried, the 31-year-old founder of a cryptocurrency firm, has been ordered to await trial in jail by a US judge following the revocation of his bail.

Arrested on fraud charges last year due to his cryptocurrency company’s collapse, Bankman-Fried was led away in handcuffs from the court while his mother looked on tearfully.

The decision was made after Judge Lewis Kaplan concurred with prosecutors who accused Bankman-Fried of attempting to influence potential witnesses against him.

Despite his denial, Judge Kaplan stated that there was “probable cause to believe that the defendant has attempted to tamper with witnesses at least twice.”

The trial, scheduled for October, will investigate allegations that Bankman-Fried misappropriated funds from his bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX to cover property expenses, political donations, and losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research. Following his arrest, he had been released on a $250 million bond to his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California.

However, after tighter restrictions were placed on him due to his communications and media interactions, prosecutors further requested his incarceration.

The decision followed the surfacing of an article in July by the New York Times, quoting confessional writings from Bankman-Fried’s former girlfriend and former CEO of Alameda, Caroline Ellison.

Prosecutors claimed that Bankman-Fried shared these documents to portray Ellison as a “jilted lover” acting alone and to bolster his media defense. Concerns were raised that this could deter other potential witnesses by exposing them to personal humiliation and reputation damage beyond what would occur in court.

Prosecutors asserted that Bankman-Fried engaged in around 1,000 calls with the press in recent months.