Prosecutors and attorneys for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried are requesting the disgraced cryptocurrency entrepreneur be allowed a flip-phone or one other device that’s not a smartphone while on bail.
The proposal, submitted in a letter Friday, comes because the judge within the case is deciding how one can toughen Bankman-Fried’s bail requirements amid concerns the previous billionaire may be communicating on electronic devices in ways in which can’t be traced.
Prosecutors alleged last month Bankman-Fried used a virtual private network that blocks third parties from seeing online activity, generally known as VPN, to access the web twice. In addition they said he sent an encrypted message over the Signal texting app in January to the final counsel of FTX US, a move they argued might indicate witness tampering.
Bankman-Fried departs from his court hearing after he was brought in on fraud charges at Manhattan federal court in Recent York City, on Jan. 3, 2023.REUTERS
Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to charges that he cheated investors and looted customer deposits at FTX, his cryptocurrency platform.
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Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who’s overseeing the case, has raised the chance that Bankman-Fried may need to be jailed if his communications can’t be monitored to make sure the integrity of the trial. The previous FTX head was released on a $250 million bond in December and is confined to his parent’s home in Palo Alto, California.
Under the proposal, Bankman-Fried’s phone functions can be limited to SMS text messages and voice calls. He would even be given a recent laptop with limited use, which will likely be “configured in order that he is barely in a position to go surfing to the web through the usage of specified VPNs,” that can only permit access to web sites which were whitelisted. They include sites he can use to organize for his defense, similar to Ftx.com, and people for private news, like The Recent York Times and Netflix.
Within the letter, the 2 sides said Bankman-Fried would even be allowed access to several applications to organize for his defense, including Zoom, Microsoft Office and Adobe Acrobat. The parties also proposed a monitoring software be installed on the device to trace any activity, and have Bankman-Fried’s parents submit sworn affidavits that they “is not going to bring additional devices into the house” or permit access to their very own password-protected devices.
Kaplan still has to come to a decision whether to approve to proposal.
