Sam Bankman-Fried wants more time to negotiate his bail terms.
The former FTX executive’s lawyers filed a letter on Friday requesting that a federal judge give him until March 3 to hash out the details of his ongoing bail dispute. Bankman-Fried also requested more time to find a technology expert to educate the court.
“We respectfully request that the court grant the defense an extension of time to file our proposal for the court’s technical consultant and additional bail conditions,” Bankman-Fried’s lawyers said.
Prosecutors have urged Judge Lewis Kaplan to tighten Bankman-Fried’s bail terms — and seriously curtail his internet access — after he used an encrypted app to message a former employee and a VPN to watch the Super Bowl.
Bankman-Fried is facing a litany of criminal charges. He is temporarily barred from using a VPN or any encrypted or ephemeral apps like Signal, and banned from contacting current or former FTX employees. He is under house arrest in California on a $250 million bond.
Kaplan asked Bankman-Fried to bring a tech expert before the court to discuss his VPN use. Bankman-Fried has agreed to pay for the expert, and his lawyers say they are still searching for a candidate. The judge also asked prosecutors and Bankman-Fried’s lawyers to propose new bail orders to the court.
Bankman-Fried is awaiting an October trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He was hit with four new charges this week, including bank fraud, when the court unsealed a superseding indictment in the case.
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Source: https://www.theblock.co/post/215142/bankman-fried-asks-court-for-more-time-to-negotiate-bail?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss