Sam Bankman-Fried's lawyers request extension for bail condition proposal

Lawyers representing erstwhile FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried successful national tribunal person requested an hold to record a connection related to his bail conditions.

In a Feb. 24 filing with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Mark Cohen of Cohen & Gressler said the ineligible squad wanted until March 3 to record a connection for further bail conditions for Bankman-Fried arsenic good arsenic find a suitable campaigner to enactment arsenic a method adept successful the case. The lawyers agreed to prosecute an adept pursuing a Feb. 16 proceeding discussing the erstwhile FTX CEO’s use of a virtual backstage network, oregon VPN.

“The parties person been diligently vetting candidates to service arsenic the Court’s method advisor but person not yet identified a suitable candidate,” said the filing. “Similarly, the parties person been engaged successful productive discussions astir further bail conditions for Mr. Bankman-Fried but would similar much clip to implicit those discussions.”

Cohen added:

"The Government has nary objection to this request. The parties besides person nary objection to continuing Mr. Bankman-Fried’s existent bail conditions for immoderate play the Court deems due portion these discussions are taking place."

Judge Lewis Kaplan suggested that helium could add further restrictions to Bankman-Fried’s $250-million bail conditions pursuing a study SBF utilized a VPN connected Jan. 29 and Feb. 12. Lawyers representing the erstwhile CEO claimed helium utilized the exertion to ticker shot games, but inactive agreed to person Bankman-Fried halt utilizing VPNs until the tribunal could scope a determination connected the matter.

SBF has mostly been confined to his parent’s California location since being arraigned successful December 2022, but has been brought backmost to tribunal a fewer times to look proceedings related to his bail conditions. Court documents stated that the erstwhile FTX CEO attempted to interaction erstwhile FTX employees utilizing encrypted messaging apps. Judge Kaplan has besides hinted astatine revoking SBF’s bail entirely, apt leaving him successful national custody until his October transgression trial.

Related: Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang plead blameworthy to fraud charges

The tribunal unsealed a superseding indictment against Bankman-Fried connected Feb. 22 containing 12 transgression counts, and not the 8 charges helium primitively faced connected Dec. 13. The indictment included a complaint for conspiracy to perpetrate slope fraud and details connected his alleged unlawful governmental contributions — utilizing straw donors to marque contributions totaling “tens of millions of dollars.”