What is the DOJ Claiming About Laptop Access of Sam Bankman-Fried?

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, once again comes on the radar of the Department of Justice (DOJ). At this time, the talk is about Bankman-Fried’s laptop access.

The FTX founder continues to lack decent internet access when produced to a cell block at the Southern District of New York courthouse. The letter signed by defense attorney Mark Cohen stated, Bankman-Fried has not had anywhere near the amount of air-gapped computer access as the DOJ has said he would have.

The prosecutors are exaggerating the amount of access Sam Bankman-Fried actually has to defense material, his attorneys said in a memo late yesterday. His defense team has tried to have him temporarily released or given greater computer access to work on his defense, saying his Sixth Amendment rights were being violated.

DOJ’s Claim About Sam Bankman-Fried

Earlier this week, the DOJ filed a letter stating that “Sam Bankman-Fried now had access to multiple hard drives with defense material provided by the defense, an air-gapped laptop every day of the week, and an internet-enabled laptop with a new battery provided by defense attorneys.”

Over the saying, the defense has made the response and wrote that the plan does not work in practice. It led to Judge Lewis Kaplan ordering Bankman-Fried’s team to describe what, actually, they found inaccurate.

The DOJ letter detailed the issues, as noted Sam Bankman-Fried was only able to load a single document due to poor internet speeds after being produced to the courthouse on Wednesday, September 6, 2023 access to an internet-enabled computer granted.

The Letter Highlights

The letter stated “Effectively, Mr. Bankman-Fried had no access to the internet for the entire 5-hour period… Despite the Government’s efforts, there does not appear to be a way to solve the internet access problem in the cellblock.” Moreover, the FTX founder doesn’t have the full amount of time to use an air-gapped computer that prosecutors promised, Cohen said.

The letter further added, “Almost an entire month has passed since Mr. Bankman-Fried was remanded and we have lost that time to effectively prepare for trial. We therefore respectfully reiterate our request that the Court order Mr. Bankman-Fried’s temporary release.”

Furthermore, the technology firm, Apple, has reportedly paid $5 Million for the rights to author Michael Lewis’ upcoming book on Sam Bankman-Fried following a bidding war. As per a recent report from The Ankler, “Apple secured the rights to the book Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon.”

The “Big Short” author’s book on Sam Bankman-Fried is slated to release on October 3, 2023. Notably, on this day, Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial in New York begins.