Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers have requested an extension to file a proposal related to his bail conditions in federal court. As per the filing with the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on February 24th, the lawyers are seeking until March 3rd to file the proposal for additional bail conditions and find a technical expert for the case.
Mark Cohen of Cohen & Gressler, representing Bankman-Fried, said the lawyers are diligently vetting candidates for the technical consultant role but have not yet identified a suitable candidate.
Judge Lewis Kaplan suggested that SBF’s $250-million bail conditions could be subject to additional restrictions after a report surfaced that he used a VPN on January 29th and February 12th.
The former CEO’s lawyers claimed that he used the technology to watch football games but agreed to have him stop using VPNs until the court reached a decision on the matter. In a last week’s hearing discussing SBF’s use of a virtual private network, the lawyers agreed to hire an expert.
Bail Conditions Of FTX’s SBF & New Charges
Surrounding this, a recent development revealed that SBF is facing new criminal charges after a judge unsealed a new 12-count indictment against him on February 23rd, as reported by TronWeekly.
These new charges include conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud, securities fraud, and operating an unlicensed money transfer business.
The indictment also alleges that FTX’s SBF conspired to defraud the Federal Election Commission and made unlawful political contributions, among other crimes.
He is also alleged to have arranged political donations in the names of two other FTX executives in order to conceal his left-leaning political affiliation and prevent his name from being associated with certain Republican candidates.
While the government has no objection to the legal team’s request for an extension, discussions are ongoing for additional bail conditions for SBF.
However, according to the court filing:
The parties have been diligently vetting candidates to serve as the Court’s technical consultant but have not yet identified a suitable candidate. Similarly, the parties have been engaged in productive discussions about additional bail conditions for Mr. Bankman-Fried but would like more time to complete those discussions.