By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK, March 4 (Reuters) - Sam Bankman-Fried should
be allowed while on bail to have a flip phone with no internet
capability and a basic laptop with limited functions, but be
forbidden from using other electronic communication devices, the
U.S. Department of Justice said.
The proposal to limit the indicted FTX cryptocurrency
exchange founder's communications was filed late on Friday in
Manhattan federal court, on behalf of the government and
Bankman-Fried's defense team.
It requires approval by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan,
who oversees the case.
Kaplan had signaled at a Feb. 16 hearing that he might jail
the 30-year-old Bankman-Fried for testing the limits of his $250
million bail package by communicating in ways that could not be
monitored.
The judge said he did not want to set Bankman-Fried "loose
in this garden of electronic devices," following accusations
that Bankman-Fried tried to contact possible government
witnesses and used a virtual private network to watch football.
Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty after prosecutors said he
stole billions of dollars of FTX customer funds to plug losses
at his Alameda Research hedge fund. He faces 12 criminal charges
under an indictment made public on Feb. 23.
The proposed flip phone or other non-smartphone for
Bankman-Fried would be limited to voice calls and SMS text
messages.
Laptop internet use would be restricted to specified virtual
private networks, 23 websites for personal use including news,
sports and food delivery, and websites to help Bankman-Fried
prepare for his scheduled Oct. 2 trial.
Bankman-Fried is living under house arrest with his parents,
both Stanford Law School professors, in Palo Alto, California.
The parents agreed to submit sworn affidavits that they
would not bring other electronic devices into their home or let
their son use theirs.
They also agreed that each device would carry software that
periodically takes videos or photos of the user, which court
officers would be allowed to review, the letter said.
Bankman-Fried's lawyers did not immediately respond on
Saturday to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Anirudh
Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
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