U.S. seeks tighter bail for FTX founder Bankman-Fried to prevent tampering

U.S. seeks tighter bail for FTX founder Bankman-Fried to prevent tampering© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Former FTX Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces fraud charges over the collapse of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, arrives on the day of a hearing at Manhattan federal court in New York City, U.S. January 3, 2023. REUTERS/David D

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors on Friday asked a Manhattan judge to impose tougher bail conditions on Sam Bankman-Fried, expressing concern that the founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange might tamper with witnesses or destroy evidence in his criminal case.

Citing Bankman-Fried’s “recent attempts to contact prospective witnesses,” prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to ban Bankman-Fried from communicating with current or former employees of FTX or his Alameda Research hedge fund, other than family, unless a lawyer is present.

They also asked that Bankman-Fried not use Signal or other encrypted call and messaging applications, though he could still communicate through text messages, email and the phone.

Bankman-Fried, 30, has been free on $250 million bond and required to live with his parents since pleading not guilty to looting billions of dollars from the now-bankrupt FTX.

Lawyers for Bankman-Fried did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In Friday’s letter, prosecutors cited a Signal message on Jan. 15 from Bankman-Fried to “Witness-1,” the general counsel of the FTX U.S. affiliate. Bankman-Fried expressed interest in having a “constructive relationship” or “at least vet things with each other.”

Prosecutors said this was “particularly concerning” because Bankman-Fried knew the general counsel had potentially damaging information, having participated just before FTX’s November collapse in communications in which Bankman-Fried discussed using Alameda funds to satisfy FTX customer withdrawals.

“The defendant’s request to ‘vet things with each other’ is suggestive of an effort to influence Witness-1’s potential testimony, and the appeal for a ‘constructive relationship’ likewise implies that Witness-1 should align with the defendant,” prosecutors said.

“Even if the defendant has not directly attempted to tamper with witnesses, (his) contact with witnesses may intimidate them” into not coming forward or testifying, prosecutors added.

In seeking to keep Bankman-Fried off Signal, prosecutors said he had in 2021 directed that many Signal and Slack communications be autodeleted within 30 days.

Prosecutors said former Alameda chief Caroline Ellison, who pleaded guilty in the case and is cooperating with them, told them Bankman-Fried had indicated it could be harder to build legal cases if information were not preserved.

Note: This article have been indexed to our site. We do not claim legitimacy, ownership or copyright of any of the content above. To see the article at original source Click Here

Related Posts
What is the latest an interim-payment application can be issued? thumbnail

What is the latest an interim-payment application can be issued?

Amy Pairman is an associate at Brodies LLPThe recent case of Elements (Europe) Ltd v FK Building Ltd will have practical, day-to-day implications regarding the timings around interim-payment applications.“The court said that the law does not deal in fractions of a day”The case relates to an interim application under the JCT Standard Building Sub-Contract Conditions
Read More
DLF to develop Rs 25,000 cr project in Gurugram thumbnail

DLF to develop Rs 25,000 cr project in Gurugram

DLF Ltd, a leading real estate developer, has announced plans to develop a super luxury housing project on Golf Course Road in Gurugram. The project, spanning over 17 acres in DLF Phase-5, is expected to comprise more than 400 apartments, with an estimated revenue potential of around Rs 25,000 crore. Aakash Ohri, Joint Managing Director
Read More
SEC’s Caroline Crenshaw faces intense opposition ahead of Senate vote thumbnail

SEC’s Caroline Crenshaw faces intense opposition ahead of Senate vote

Regulation Home » Regulation » SEC’s Caroline Crenshaw faces intense opposition ahead of Senate vote byVivian Nguyen Dec. 11, 2024 Crenshaw's stance on Bitcoin ETFs stirs debate within the digital assets community before crucial committee vote. Photo: Cedar Innovation Foundation Key Takeaways Caroline Crenshaw is criticized for her stance against crypto and spot Bitcoin ETFs.
Read More
888 _乐山电力(600644)股吧_东方财富网股吧 thumbnail

888 _乐山电力(600644)股吧_东方财富网股吧

发表于 2022-02-09 07:45:53 股吧手机网页版 郑重声明:用户在财富号/股吧/博客社区发表的所有信息(包括但不限于文字、视频、音频、数据及图表)仅代表个人观点,与本网站立场无关,不对您构成任何投资建议,据此操作风险自担。 郑重声明:用户在社区发表的所有资料、言论等仅代表个人观点,与本网站立场无关,不对您构成任何投资建议。用户应基于自己的独立判断,自行决定证券投资并承担相应风险。《东方财富社区管理规定》
Read More
El Salvador is down $12 million on its Bitcoin buys thumbnail

El Salvador is down $12 million on its Bitcoin buys

Bitcoin › El Salvador › InvestmentsA poor run of form may put off other nation-states from joining El Salvador in legalizing Bitcoin as tender. Samuel Wan • Jan. 15, 2022 at 1:00 pm UTC • 2 min readWith the ongoing market slump, El Salvador is holding significant losses on its Bitcoin investments.Its buying process and…
Read More
ZooKeeper Launch OpenZoo.io, The Ultimate NFT Marketplace thumbnail

ZooKeeper Launch OpenZoo.io, The Ultimate NFT Marketplace

5th January 2022, GENEVA, Switzerland — OpenZoo.io is a new NFT marketplace, and one of the biggest developments from yield farming dApp ZooKeeper since the launch of ZooKeeper.finance back in April 2021. OpenZoo is the heart of the ZooKeeper ecosystem and a unique platform designed to inspire artists of all mediums, whilst providing them with…
Read More
Index Of News