...from the private diaries of his ex-girlfriend and former business partner who is now testifying against him, making this the latest in a long series of failed attempts at witness tampering, a federal crime in its own right. It's also what has turned out to be the last straw with a judge who has up to this point been astonishingly tolerant with all the other ways Bankman-Fried has tried to screw around with the remarkably lenient terms of his former bail agreement.
… "in order to intimidate a witness in the case".
Clearly the judge didn't consider it "completely legal", presumably based on 18 U.S.C. § 1512[0] which says the following may result in a fine or imprisonment (edited for brevity):
(b) Whoever knowingly uses intimidation, threatens, or corruptly persuades another person, or attempts to do so, or engages in misleading conduct toward another person, with intent to—
(1) influence, delay, or prevent the testimony of any person in an official proceeding;
(2) cause or induce any person to—
(A) withhold testimony, or withhold a record, document, or other object, from an official proceeding;
...
(d) Whoever intentionally harasses another person and thereby hinders, delays, prevents, or dissuades any person from—
(1) attending or testifying in an official proceeding;
If you read the article, all it says it that he's going to jail for the completely legal act of publishing correspondence that was sent to him. He hasn't been sentenced or convicted or anything. The judge just doesn't like him.
Theoretically, you deny bail to people who are flight risks.