U.S. judge extends FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail restrictions

On February 1, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan temporarily prohibited Bankman-Fried from getting in touch with any current or former FTX or Alameda Research workers after prosecutors expressed fears that the 30-year-old former millionaire may be attempting to influence witnesses.

The court further prohibited Bankman-Fried from using messaging services like Signal, which allow users to auto-delete conversations, as a condition of his release on a $250 million bail.

On Thursday, Kaplan announced that the restrictions would be in place until February 21 and ordered both parties to provide an explanation by February 13 as to how they could be certain Bankman-Fried would not delete electronic messages. On Tuesday, Kaplan rejected a deal between the defense team and the prosecution to loosen those restrictions.

At a hearing in federal court in Manhattan, Kaplan said, "I am considerably less interested in the defendant's convenience" than in averting suspected witness tampering.

There are several methods of communication that don't carry the same hazards, such as email and snail letter, according to Kaplan.

Defense attorneys contend that Bankman-attempts Fried's to get in touch with an FTX general counsel and its new CEO John Ray were attempts to "give aid" rather than meddle.

On January 3, Bankman-Fried entered a not guilty plea to eight criminal accusations, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering, and was accused by the prosecution of defrauding investors and inflicting losses of billions of dollars. If found guilty, he could get a sentence of up to 115 years in jail, however the court would ultimately decide the punishment depending on a number of circumstances.

If he had put monitoring software on his phone, he would have been permitted to use messaging apps like WhatsApp and Zoom under the terms of his plea deal. Additionally, it would have left open the question of who would be excluded from the no-contact order.

The defendants were associated with FTX but were not essential to the prosecution's case, according to prosecutor Danielle Sassoon, and they were not anticipated to testify.

Sassoon said, "We don't want to fully take away the defendant's capacity to communicate.

Initially, Bankman-Fried had suggested restricting access to just a select group of possible witnesses, such as former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and former FTX Chief Technology Officer Zixiao "Gary" Wang, who have admitted to fraud and are assisting law enforcement. Additionally, Bankman-Fried consented to drop his protest against a bail requirement barring him from accessing FTX, Alameda, or cryptocurrency holdings.

Bankman-Fried amassed an estimated $26 billion fortune and rose to prominence as a political contributor by riding the wave of the bitcoin and other digital asset bubble. In November, FTX fell apart and filed bankruptcy papers. To face the criminal allegations, Bankman-Fried was extradited from the Bahamas, where he had previously resided and the exchange had its headquarters.