US prosecutors have asked a federal court to tighten Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions to prevent the disgraced entrepreneur from contacting his former colleagues. According to court documents seen by The New York Times, lawyers from the Department of Justice allege Bankman-Fried tried messaging the general counsel of FTX’s US arm over Signal and email earlier this month. The communication was “suggestive of an effort to influence Witness-1’s potential testimony,” the filing states.
“I would really love to reconnect and see if there’s a way for us to have a constructive relationship, use each other as resources when possible, or at least vet things with each other,” says one message Bankman-Fried sent, according to the Justice Department. The DOJ has asked the judge overseeing Bankman-Fried’s criminal case to bar him from contacting current and former FTX employees, as well as using Signal or any other encrypted or ephemeral messaging app. Following the request,…
2023-01-28 16:41:22
Source from www.engadget.com On July 3rd, 2020, US federal prosecutors filed a motion in the US District Court for the District of Columbia to prevent Sam Bankman-Fried, a well-known cryptocurrency entrepreneur, from using the messaging app Signal. According to the prosecutors, Bankman-Fried, who is the CEO of FTX and Alameda Research, poses an “unacceptable risk of flight” and using Signal could help him circumvent the Court’s order.
The Court Order in question was issued in May of 2020. It mandated that Bankman-Fried must remain on the Alameda research campus in California whenever he is in the United States. It also required that he limit his communication to certain people while abiding by that order.
The motion also raised a concern that Bankman-Fried will attempt to conceal his whereabouts by using the messaging app Signal. Signal is a messaging app which allows its users to encrypt messages and make calls without any third-party interception. The prosecutors stated that this feature of Signal will help Bankman-Fried to conceal the whereabouts of his conversations.
Furthermore, prosecutors also noted that Bankman-Fried has allegedly transferred over $15 million worth of cryptocurrency to an offshore holding company, which is an obvious violation of the disciplinary order. The list of people he communicated with during the transfer is not known and the prosecutors believe that Signal could help him in circumventing this monitoring system.
The court has not yet made a decision on this motion. An answer from Bankman-Fried’s defense is expected by July 16th, 2020. In the meantime, Bankman-Fried remains under the surveillance of the court’s order.