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- In the recent court hearing, the U.S. judge extended bail restrictions on Sam Bankman-Fried.
- FTX founder is currently facing fraud charges over the collapse of his now-bankrupt crypto exchange, FTX.
At a Federal court in New York City, Lewis Kaplan, U.S. District Judge extended a ban on FTX founder, Sam Bnakman-Fried. Due to these restrictions, Bankman-Fried lost the ability to reach out to any of the company’s employees. However, he once controlled and used encrypted messaging technology for contacting FTX’s employees. But now he is out on bail awaiting trial on fraud charges.
Earlier this month, Kaplan temporarily barred Bankman-Fried from contacting any of the present or ex-employee of FTX or Alameda Research, FTX’s sister firm. It must be noted that the prosecutors raised the concerns that Bnakman-Fried may be trying to tamper with witnesses.
FTX founder released on a $250 Million bond, while the judge also restricted him from using any of the messaging apps like Signal that allow users to auto-delete messages.
The U.S. judge already rejected an agreement between defense lawyers and prosecutors to loosen the given conditions. Then on yesterday, Kaplan stated that the restrictions would remain as it is until February 21st. He instructed both representations to explain by February 13th, how they could be sure Bankman-Fried would not delete electronic messages.
U.S. Judge Statement
Kaplan said at a hearing in Manhattan federal court that “he is far less interested in the defendant’s convenience, than in preventing possible witness-tampering. There is still snail-mail and there is still email and there are all kinds of ways to communicate that don’t present the same risks.”
Moreover the defense lawyers have argued that Bankman-Fried’s efforts to contact an FTX general counsel and its new Chief Executive Officer John Ray were attempts to offer “assistance” and not interfere.
Earlier in January, Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to any of the eight criminal charges that included wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy. The prosecutors accused him for cheating investors and putting them in billions of dollars of losses. He faces up to 115 years in prison if he has been declared guilty, although any sentence would ultimately be determined by a judge based on a range of factors.
As per his agreement with prosecutors, he would have allowed him to use communication tools like Zoom or WhatsApp if he gets ready to install monitoring technology on his phone. Notably, it would have exempted some people from the no-contact order, without making the clear identification who they were.
Once a billionaire had originally proposed being banned from making any contact with only certain potential witnesses such as the ex-CEO of Alameda Caroline Ellison and FTX’s ex-CTO Gary Wang. Both have already pleaded guilty and are cooperating with the prosecutors. Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried also agreed to withdraw his objection to a bail condition that restricted him from accessing FTX, Alameda or crypto assets.
Nancy J. Allen is a crypto enthusiast, with a major in macroeconomics and minor in business statistics. She believes that cryptocurrencies inspire people to be their own banks, and step aside from traditional monetary exchange systems. She is also intrigued by blockchain technology and its functioning. She frequently researches, and posts content on the top altcoins, their theoretical working principles and technical price predictions.
