Sam Bankman-Fried, U.S. prosecutors close to new bail settlement

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Attorneys for Sam Bankman-Fried are nearing an settlement with U.S. prosecutors on revised bail circumstances for the indicted FTX cryptocurrency alternate founder, who’s making an attempt to persuade a skeptical decide he ought to stay free.

In a letter filed on Friday evening in Manhattan federal court docket, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer Christian Everdell stated each side believed they have been “near a decision”, and anticipate to formally suggest new restrictions by subsequent week.

Bankman-Fried, 31, faces a trial set for Oct. 2 on fees of stealing billions of {dollars} in FTX buyer funds to plug losses at his Alameda Analysis hedge fund, and making giant unlawful political donations to purchase affect in Washington, D.C.

Bail talks occurred this week after U.S. District Decide Lewis Kaplan at a March 10 listening to renewed his considerations that Bankman-Fried’s digital communications with others would possibly exceed the bounds of his $250 million bail bundle.

Kaplan’s approval is required to change Bankman-Fried’s bail.

The previous billionaire has pleaded not responsible to eight counts, and never but been arraigned on 4. He’s dwelling below home arrest along with his dad and mom in Palo Alto, California.

Prosecutors raised the specter of witness tampering in January after Bankman-Fried tried to contact John Ray, who grew to become FTX’s chief government when the corporate filed for chapter in November, and an in-house lawyer.

Bankman-Fried’s legal professionals have stated their consumer was making an attempt to assist, not intervene.

On the March 10 listening to, prosecutors and protection legal professionals proposed giving Bankman-Fried a flip cellphone with no web functionality and a fundamental laptop computer with restricted features.

That was too beneficiant for Kaplan, who stated Bankman-Fried was “ingenious” and will conceivably “discover a manner round” the restrictions with out being caught.

In Friday’s letter, Everdell additionally sought the decide’s permission to let Bankman-Fried within the meantime use a laptop computer to entry some FTX supplies.

Although the laptop computer would lack monitoring software program or limit Bankman-Fried’s web entry, a lawyer or paralegal would oversee his use and take the laptop computer away when Bankman-Fried completed with it, Everdell stated.

The case is U.S. v. Bankman-Fried, U.S. District Courtroom, Southern District of New York, No. 22-cr-00673.