After getting released on bail, Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX has been under house arrest. His bail, however, wasn’t as easy, as it came with a plethora of conditions. The first few were limited to not talking to the current and former employees of FTX. The Southern District of New York U.S. District Court judge was persuaded by the federal prosecutors to further modify the conditions of his release.
It was brought to light that SBF employed a virtual private network [VPN] to watch football. He reportedly did this twice in order to stream the National Football League playoff games. The prosecution was not pleased hence, they sought to ask the court to prohibit SBF from using phones and even the internet. He would only be permitted to utilize these benefits under specific circumstances.
As per his previous terms, he was barred from employing encrypted or ephemeral messaging applications. The filing further read,
“Within the span of a month, the defendant has used at least two methods of encryption in a manner that warrant modification to his bail conditions. His behavior shows that the existing conditions leave too much room for circumvention of restrictions aimed at preventing inappropriate conduct, including contacting witnesses and accessing cryptocurrency assets.”
This filing also restricts SBF from using tablets, computers, and even cell phones as mentioned earlier.
So how will SBF interact with his lawyers?
The former CEO of FTX will have access to discovery materials and can communicate with his attorneys by Zoom or email using his Gmail account. He will also be allowed to use his phone to make calls and send messages. It should be emphasized that a monitoring software installed on his computer and phone is keeping track of all his records.
Earlier today, Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that the names of SBF’s guarantors should be revealed.