Bankman-Fried Close to Proposing Revised Bail Package to Judge

Samuel Bankman-Fried is close to proposing a revised bail package meant to satisfy a judge who expressed frustration over the FTX founder’s use of technology while under house arrest.

(Bloomberg) — Samuel Bankman-Fried is close to proposing a revised bail package meant to satisfy a judge who expressed frustration over the FTX founder’s use of technology while under house arrest.

Free on a $250 million bond but confined to his parents’ house with a monitoring device around his ankle, Bankman-Fried has already angered US District Judge Lewis Kaplan by using encrypted-messaging apps and a virtual private network, or VPN, which hides a computer’s identity.

Kaplan has threatened to revoke the bail package and send Bankman-Fried to jail ahead of his October trial if he isn’t satisfied with the constraints. 

Bankman-Fried and federal prosecutors “have been working diligently to agree on a set of specific bail conditions that will address the concerns expressed by the government and the court,” Bankman-Fried’s lawyer, Christian R. Everdell, wrote in a letter to the judge Friday. “We believe we are close to a resolution and anticipate being able to present the court with a proposed order outlining these conditions by next week.”

Bankman-Fried is accused of a massive fraud that ended in FTX’s collapse in November. He has pleaded not guilty and while publicly taking responsibility, he said he did nothing illegal.

Read More: Bankman-Fried Fights for Tech Use as Prosecution Bolsters Case

Kaplan banned the use of VPNs on Feb. 14 after it emerged that Bankman-Fried, 30, had used one — just to watch football, his lawyers say. Kaplan, 78, had put encryption apps such as Signal off limits for fear the defendant could seek to influence potential witnesses, and he couldn’t be sure Bankman-Fried had used the VPN only to see the games, especially when most fans had happily followed the gridiron action without one.

Ahead of proposing the revised bail package, Bankman-Fried asked the judge for permission to use a laptop to access FTX’s transactional database. The government doesn’t object, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer said in the letter.

The case is US v. Bankman-Fried, 22-cr-673, US District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).

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