FTX ex-CEO lawyers want an extension on bail’s new condition

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) representative lawyers in the FTX fraud case seeking an extension in the $250 million bond bail condition’s new proposal.

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is a co-founder & former CEO of the FTX exchange. In early Nov 2022, the FTX exchange collapsed badly & later on 19 Nov filed for bankruptcy in a US bankruptcy court under the chapter 11 code. Allegedly FTX co-founder misused FTX customers’ funds for his personal benefits. To this date, he is facing 10 fraud charges, including the latest 2 new fraud charges, but so far no charge has been proved in court. 

The 24 Feb 2023 filing with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York revealed that SBF defense lawyers urged the court judge to extend the time until 3 March for the newly proposed condition on the SBF $250 million bond bail. 

Earlier this on 16 Feb, SBF lawyers agreed to hire an expert to discuss the use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) by SBF and agreed to hold a constructive discussion on the new proposed conditions for the SBF’s bail but now they want more time on this matter. 

SBF lawyer Mark Cohen said:

“The Government has no objection to this request. The parties also have no objection to continuing Mr. Bankman-Fried’s current bail conditions for whatever period the Court deems appropriate while these discussions are taking place.“

VPN misuse 

On 29 Jan & 19 Feb, reports noted that SBF used a VPN service to watch sports games and also some reports noted that in the past he communicated with the FTX’s current key witnesses, which was a violation in the court proceedings.

Now SBF can’t use VPN services but the final decision for SBF to use VPN will come in the next few months, on behalf of the court discussion on newly proposed conditions for SBF bail. 

Few experts noted that SBF may use VPN to communicate with any key witness without knowing investigators, so here it is necessary to ensure that SBF will not use VPN.

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