The United States Department of Justice has submitted a proposal to the Southern District of New York seeking new bail conditions for Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX.
The proposal suggests that Bankman-Fried should be prohibited from using smartphones, computers, tablets, and other video game platforms or devices that allow chat and voice communication.
The plan also includes restricting his communication to a flip phone or other non-smartphone with either no internet capabilities or internet capabilities disabled.
The temporary bail conditions imposed earlier, including no contact or communication with current or former employees of FTX or Alameda Research, and no use of encrypted or ephemeral call or messaging applications or a VPN would be made permanent under the proposal. Bankman-Fried’s access to websites would also be restricted to a whitelist of pre-approved pages.
Furthermore, Bankman-Fried’s laptop would be monitored by security software that would log his online activity. The DOJ also seeks the installation of court-authorized pen registers on his phone number, Gmail account, and internet service.
Bankman-Fried’s $250 million bail has been under scrutiny since Feb. 9, after he was found to have contacted potential witnesses on his case.
He was also temporarily banned from using a VPN after prosecutors accused him of using it on two occasions, on Jan. 29 and Feb. 12.
The proposal submitted by attorney Damian Williams “on behalf of parties” is believed to have been negotiated with Bankman-Fried’s defense team, which requested to submit a proposal by March 3. The court is yet to make a decision on the proposed new bail conditions.
