A federal judge has reportedly thrown out oral arguments proposing that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried be allowed to use certain messaging apps.
According to a Reuters report on February 9, Judge Lewis Kaplan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York upheld his decision to restrict Bankman-Fried’s use of encrypted messaging apps as a condition of his release on $250 million bail. The judge ordered SBF not to communicate using apps like Signal on February 1, but the former CEO’s legal team and prosecutors had brokered a deal that allowed exceptions like Facebook Messenger, Zoom and Facetime.
Apparently, Judge Kaplan said he was “much less interested in comfort [de Bankman-Fried]”that the former FTX CEO contacted potential witnesses in his criminal case – court files showed that SBF had contacted FTX US general counsel Ryne Miller and the current FTX CEO , John Ray. Bloomberg reported that the judge said Bankman-Fried might be “bright enough to encrypt something without a computer,” suggesting that the current bail restrictions were necessary.
“There’s still snail mail and there’s still email and there’s all kinds of ways to communicate that don’t present the same risks”Kaplan said.
Bankman-Fried appeared in person in court at the bail hearing, but remains largely confined to his parents’ home in California. His bail restrictions will reportedly stay in place until February 21, following Kaplan’s decision to extend them.
This story is in development and will be updated.
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