Judge Warned Sam Bankman-Fried’s Bond If He’s Breaking Court Orders

Key Points:

• Judge warned Sam Bankman-Fried that he could hold a hearing to recover the FTX founder’s bonds if SBF violates the court order.
• The hearing can decide whether the SBF is behind bars pending trial.
• The action followed after prosecutors accused the SBF of using a virtual private network (VPN) to watch the Super Bowl.

Judge warned Sam Bankman-Fried that he could hold a hearing to recover the FTX founder’s bonds if SBF continues to violate the court order, according to Coindesk.

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is still out on bail, but the New York judge in charge of overseeing the SBF’s criminal fraud case said if he continues to defy the amount of bail issued by the court. If the court sets the conditions, a hearing to decide whether the SBF should be behind bars awaiting trial could be on the agenda.

Federal prosecutors sent a letter to the court earlier this week alleging that the SBF violated an earlier court ban on encryption technology by using a virtual private network (VPN) to watch the Super Bowl.

They called on the court to consider more severe measures, including preventing the SBF from using cell phones, computers, or any internet-connected device, except for a limited number of cases related to the patient.

At a hearing discussing the letter on Thursday, Sam Bankman-Fried’s attorney, Mark Cohen, dismissed the measures as “draconian” and argued that the SBF needed internet access and apps like Google Docs to prepare for the upcoming trial effectively.

But US District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan on Thursday disagreed with Cohen, even suggesting that the government’s proposed measures may not be enough to prevent the SBF from interfering in the case or undermining his bail conditions.

Kaplan told the court he had “possibly reason to believe” that Bankman-Fried may have committed the crime of “witness tampering,” which is a felony, and expressed doubts that he was using VPN to watch football.

Faced with the judge’s question, Cohen told the court that Sam Bankman-Fried’s use of the VPN was not an intentional violation but negligence.

Prosecutors also spoke about a proposal to install surveillance software on a single cell phone and laptop computer at Bankman-Fried’s parent’s home in California, where he now lives. A prosecutor told the judge there was no solution to prevent Sam Bankman-Fried from accessing his parents’ device.

The judge also ordered Bankman-Fried prosecutors and lawyers to work on a new set of proposed bail conditions that could effectively monitor and prevent future problems.

Kaplan also made an unorthodox request of Cohen – for Bankman-Fried’s legal team to provide an independent technical expert for the court’s use, who Kaplan suggested could work “effectively like a law clerk” and him counsel on the risks posed by VPNs and “other gizmos.”

Both prosecutors and Bankman-Fried’s lawyers have until next Tuesday to submit new proposed guidelines for Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions.

Check out our other SBF article for Exposes FTX Collapse.

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