Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), who started the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is getting more attention from the law because the US Department of Justice wants to limit how he communicates and uses his devices.
Prosecutors have filed a new indictment against Bankman-Fried, charging him with four counts of fraud and four counts of conspiracy. He is accused of working with FTX employees to illegally give customer money to politicians during the US midterm elections in 2022.
SBF’s digital limitations
Now, the founder can only use whitelisted websites on his laptop and a phone that isn’t a smartphone. His parents also have to put monitoring software on all of their devices at home. In Delaware, a dispute over who owns Bankman-Fried’s Robinhood shares is also getting bigger.
According to the rules put out by the Southern District of New York, SBF will be able to use the phone’s serial number, IMEI number, IMSI number, MAC address, and SIM number. The government and a U.S. court will be the only ones to reveal this information and give permission. But, Sam-Bankman Fried will be permitted to use his phone and laptop only at court or when the government requests it.
Moreover, despite SBF being blacklisted from using his laptop and phone, the court has allowed him to access some other websites, like entertainment websites, and the US watchdogs have provided him with a list of the websites that he is allowed to use. While the court has permitted this, it has also set certain restrictions, like not allowing him to access any of the websites that can be used for communication or share any content.
In order to limit Sam Bankman-Fried’s ability to talk to people, the U.S. District Attorney has asked that Bankman not be allowed to use any unauthorized VPNs to hide from the government.
Also, Bankman-Fried isn’t allowed to talk to former FTX employees through any encrypted messaging platforms for the time being. As part of the ongoing legal battle over whether Bankman-Fried was involved in fraud related to the operation of FTX, these restrictions have been put in place.
According to U.S. bankruptcy law, FTX has said that the Robinhood shares should be included in its bankruptcy proceedings instead of being held by lender BlockFi until their ownership is decided. The law protects insolvent firms from lawsuits.
