A federal judge showed growing impatience on Thursday with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s use of the internet while on bail, suggesting that incarceration might eventually be the most effective way to prevent him from communicating on electronic devices in ways that can't be traced, The Associated Press reported.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan did not immediately change a $250 million bail package that lets Bankman-Fried live with his parents in Palo Alto, California, while preparing for trial on charges that he cheated investors and looted customer deposits at FTX, his cryptocurrency trading platform.
However, he raised the possibility for the first time that jail might be the only way to ensure Bankman-Fried won't outfox the government with ways to use electronic devices in ways that can't be tracked.
Assistant US Attorney Nicolas Roos said a more "drastic alternative" would be to ban Bankman-Fried's use of all electronic devices, but he added that it would be difficult for him to prepare for a trial tentatively set for October if that were to occur.
Bahamian authorities arrested Bankman-Fried in mid-December at the request of the US government. He was subsequently extradited to the US.
Last month, he pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court to criminal charges that he cheated investors in his now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange and caused billions of dollars in losses.
Bankman-Fried has been confined with electronic monitoring to his parents’ home since his December arrest.
Federal prosecutors have said that Bankman-Fried’s recent communications indicate he may be trying to influence a witness with incriminating evidence against him.
On Thursday, prosecutors asked Kaplan to more severely limit Bankman-Fried's use of electronic devices and the internet, including banning him from messaging applications and requiring the installation of a device monitoring program on his cellphone and computer.