Sam Bankman-Fried can have flip phone, limited internet while on bail, US proposes

Sam Bankman-Fried must be allowed whereas on bail to have a flip cellphone with no web functionality and a fundamental laptop computer with restricted capabilities, however be forbidden from utilizing different digital communication units, the U.S. Department of Justice mentioned.

The proposal to restrict the indicted FTX cryptocurrency change founder’s communications was filed late on Friday in Manhattan federal court docket, on behalf of the federal government and Bankman-Fried’s protection group.

It requires approval by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversees the case.

Kaplan had signaled at a Feb. 16 listening to that he may jail the 30-year-old Bankman-Fried for testing the bounds of his $250 million bail package deal by speaking in ways in which couldn’t be monitored.

The choose mentioned he didn’t wish to set Bankman-Fried “loose in this garden of electronic devices,” following accusations that Bankman-Fried tried to contact potential authorities witnesses and used a digital non-public community to observe soccer.

Bankman-Fried pleaded not responsible after prosecutors mentioned he stole billions of {dollars} of FTX buyer funds to plug losses at his Alameda Research hedge fund. He faces 12 legal fees underneath an indictment made public on Feb. 23.

The proposed flip cellphone or different non-smartphone for Bankman-Fried could be restricted to voice calls and SMS textual content messages. Laptop web use could be restricted to specified digital non-public networks, 23 web sites for private use together with news, sports activities and meals supply, and web sites to assist Bankman-Fried put together for his scheduled Oct. 2 trial.

Bankman-Fried resides underneath home arrest along with his dad and mom, each Stanford Law School professors, in Palo Alto, California.

The dad and mom agreed to submit sworn affidavits that they might not carry different digital units into their residence or let their son use theirs.

They additionally agreed that every machine would carry software program that periodically takes movies or images of the person, which court docket officers could be allowed to evaluate, the letter mentioned.

Bankman-Fried’s legal professionals didn’t instantly reply on Saturday to requests for remark. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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