The trial of ex-FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) will start in October this year. But that doesn’t mean that the SBF saga is on the back burner, quite the opposite in fact. SBF can be found in the news every day because of his behavior in the run-up to the trial. The accusers believe that he should only use an ‘old school flip phone’, a telephone without access to the internet.
SBF continues to misbehave
SBF is currently out on bail awaiting trial, and is under house arrest with his parents in California. So a very limited freedom, but perhaps a little too much freedom. SBF was recently discredited because it had contacted potential witnesses via the internet.
He was already reprimanded by the judge and was no longer allowed to use messaging apps. However, the concerns do not seem to have disappeared, and the prosecutors now want to take even more extreme measures. SBF may no longer use a smartphone if it is up to the prosecutors, only a flip phone without access to the internet.
In addition, internet access on his laptop is restricted. The websites he is allowed to continue to visit are sports websites, wikipedia, news and government agency websites. He may also no longer use his video games and other connected applications. The risk that SBF will try to contact the outside world in this way is too great.
Secret VPN use
The SBF legal team has already come to an agreement with the plaintiff’s proposals on these measures. There is therefore a good chance that the above changes will also be implemented.
In addition, SBF’s parents have to sign some documents that guarantee that SBF will not use his parents’ devices, nor that his parents will bring new devices into the house.
A few weeks ago, the complaining party started to worry because SBF had used a VPN. According to SBF’s lawyers, he had only used it to watch sports matches. Prosecutors thought it was a strong story.
