Sam Bankman-Fried is currently out on bail, but that might be revoked. According to a Judge, the former FTX CEO could have engaged in witness tampering, which could be seen as "probable cause" to put Bankman-Fried in jail until his trial in October.
Bankman-Fried's Possible Bail Revocation
Judge Lewis Kaplan said that there is probable cause to believe that Sam Bankman-Friend has committed or attempted to commit the federal felony, specifically witness tampering, while on release. Although the February 16th hearing was not about his bail revocation, it still could.
Prosecutors urged Judge Kaplan to restrict Bankman-Fried's access to electronic devices and limit it to a single monitored computer and cellphone, according to Coin Telegraph. This concern was prompted by the former CEO's usage which was asked to be restricted and monitored.
However, US District Court Judge Kaplan believes that it was naive to think that the restrictions would do anything, seeing as he lives with his parents. Presumably, they will have devices like laptops and smartphones that SBF could easily use.
Prosecutor Nicholas Roos expressed that there might not be good solutions to make sure that Bankman-Fried does not violate his bail conditions. Judge Kaplan responded by saying that revoking the bail could remove these risks.
What Prompted the Allegations of Witness Tampering
Federal prosecutors claimed that Bankman-Fried was using VPN through a letter sent to the court. This violates the court order regarding the use of encryption technology. The former CEO was said to have used VPN to watch the Super Bowl.
It was urged that Bankman-Fried be subjected to stricter rules, such as restrictions on the usage of cellular phones, computers, or anything that has a connection to the Internet, aside from limited and case-related circumstances, as mentioned in CoinDesk.
Mark Cohen, the lawyer representing Sam Bankman-Fried, said that the restrictions were "draconian," and said that SBf need internet access as well as applications like Google Docs to prepare for his upcoming trial in October.
Judge Kaplan questioned why Bankman-Fried was watching a football game using VPN, assuming that watching was all he was doing when he can just turn on the television to watch. Cohen said that it wasn't intentional, and it was merely an oversight.
Judge Kaplan responded by reiterating that the condition was that there should be no encryption and that if there was anyone in the courtroom who knew that VPN uses encryption, it would've been former crypto firm CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
Even if monitoring software has been installed on a cellphone and a laptop, there's still the issue of living with his parents. Judge Kaplan pointed out that with his parents being Standford professors, it's likely that they will have devices that SBF can use.
Since a solution is yet to be found, the US District Court Judge told both prosecutors and SBF's lawyers to work on new proposed bail conditions. The new bail conditions should be able to monitor Bankman-Fried's online activities and prevent more issues going forward.
