By Abinaya V and Shubham Kalia
(Reuters) – US prosecutors have raised concerns about FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN) to access the internet, and have asked a district judge for more time to discuss their bail conditions.
Lawyers for the prosecution and defense have been negotiating the conditions for the use of electronics while he is on bail awaiting the start of his trial in October.
In a court filing filed late on Monday, prosecutors said Bankman-Fried used a VPN to access the internet on Jan. 29 and Feb. 12.
“As the defense attorney pointed out, and the government does not dispute, many individuals use a VPN for benign purposes. In the government’s view, however, the use of a VPN raises several potential concerns,” said prosecutor Danielle Sassoon in a court filing in the Southern District of New York on Feb. 13.
“For example, it is known that some individuals use VPNs to disguise the fact that they are accessing international cryptocurrency exchanges that use IPs to block US users,” Sassoon said.
In the process, the prosecution asked the judge for an extension until February 17 to resolve the issue.
Lawyers for Bankman-Fried sought the same extension in a separate filing dated Feb. 14, in which they said their client had used a VPN to watch football games on Jan. 29 and the Super Bowl on Feb. 12.
The 30-year-old former billionaire is already temporarily barred from contact with current or former employees of his exchange and hedge fund. As a condition of his release on $250 million bail, the judge also banned him from using encrypted messaging apps such as Signal that allow users to automatically delete messages.
Bankman-Fried faces up to 115 years in prison if convicted, although any sentence is at the judge’s discretion.
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