United States: they ask the accused to use a foldable phone

Prosecutors and attorneys for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried have requested that the disgraced cryptocurrency entrepreneur be allowed to have a flip phone or other non-smartphone device while out on bail.

The motion was filed in a letter on Friday as the judge handling the case decides how to toughen Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions, over concerns the former billionaire could maintain communications with electronic devices that could harm them. would make them untraceable.

Prosecutors argued last month that Bankman-Fried used a virtual private network that blocks third parties from seeing online activity, known as a VPN, to access the internet a few times. They also said the defendant sent an encrypted message in January via the Signal text messaging app to FTX US’s general counsel, an action they believe may indicate witness tampering.

Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to charges of defrauding investors and looting customer deposits on FTX, its cryptocurrency platform.

Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, presiding over the case, raised the possibility that Bankman-Fried could face jail time if his communications cannot be monitored to ensure the integrity of the trial.

The former FTX executive is free after posting $250 million bail in December and is confined to his father’s home in Palo Alto, Calif.

According to the petition, Bankman-Fried’s phone functions will be limited to text messages and voice calls. He would also receive a new laptop with limited functionality that would be “configured so that he could only access the Internet using specific virtual private networks” that would only allow him to access authorized websites. .