The former CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried will use a flip phone or some other non-smartphone as part of a more restrictive bail package, prosecutors have said.
Other restrictions include a ban on the use of encrypted or ephemeral call or messaging applications, including Signal, as well as communicating with current or former employees of FTX or its Alameda Research trading arm.
Additionally, the ex-FTX chief executive’s new laptop will “be configured so that he is only able to log on to the internet through the use of specified VPNs, and that the VPNs only permit the defendant to access websites that have been whitelisted through the VPNs.”
The 30-year-old will be restricted from scrolling the internet, but will be allowed to use a spate of programs to prepare for his defense, including Zoom, Microsoft Office, Python, and Adobe Acrobat.
This comes as the prosecutors said in a letter to US District Judge Lewis Kaplan that the parties had agreed on Bankman-Fried’s modified bail package. Kaplan earlier threatened to revoke the bail package altogether and send Bankman-Fried to jail ahead of his October trial if the modifications are not agreed upon.
In early January, the former FTX CEO pleaded not guilty to charges that include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering.
The move followed the US government indicting Bankman-Fried in what prosecutors have described as one of the biggest financial fraud cases in American history. Prosecutor Nicolas Roos for his part argued that the ex-FTX boss carried out a "fraud of epic proportions" that led to the loss of billions of dollars of customer and investor funds.
Bankman-Fried was released last month on a $250 million bond while legal proceedings against him continue. If convicted, he faces a sentence of up to 115 years behind bars.