Recall that Bankman-Fried was released on $250 million bail last year. Under the terms of his release, he must stay at his parents' home in Palo Alto. It is important to note that the amount was not deposited or paid.

Instead, a pool of four sureties was identified for Sam, which primarily included his parents. They posted a provisional bond, which would be forfeited if Bunkman-Fried breached the terms of his stay outside the courtroom. That is, if he fails to attend the hearing or does something else - the assets will be confiscated. In the case of Bankman-Fried's parents, the house was chosen as bail.


The remaining two people have remained incognito, but the day before the court ordered their identities to be disclosed. As it turned out, the remaining sureties of Sam Bankman-Friede were former Stanford Law School dean Larry Kramer and computer programmer Andreas Pepke, who pledged the equivalent of $500,000 and $200,000 respectively.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s bail bondsman disclosed

Despite the serious bail, Sam has a chance of ending up in jail. This could even be before October 2023, when his trial is scheduled to take place.

Will the FTX founder go to jail?

According to Kaplan, the court hearing, which took place on 16 February, was not devoted to the question of lifting Bankman-Friede’s conditions of release, but the court may come to that as well. The reason is Sam’s attempts to make contact with FTX and Alameda Research employees, as was revealed earlier.

Specifically, he had previously contacted FTX US General Counsel Ryan Miller and also sent an email to FTX's new chief executive John Ray. In the case of the latter, Sam said he wanted to be helpful and counted on a meeting at the same time.

Letter to FTX chief John Ray from cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried

The court believes he wants to influence witness testimony in this way. Sam has previously been banned from using messengers for this purpose.

Here’s a clip from the latest trial of the FTX founder from Bloomberg representatives. In this case, Sam Bankman-Fried arrived at the Federal District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Many believe that Bankman-Fried is “using the privilege given to him” in a dangerous manner. Here’s what law professor Richard Painter tweeted about it.

Hey, crypto-bro: trying to influence witnesses after being released on bail is a good way to get back behind bars.

According to Cointelegraph sources, prosecutors have asked Judge Kaplan to further restrict Bankman-Friede’s use of devices to one computer and a mobile phone. The active use of the gadgets has become a cause for concern given the possibility of unrestricted communication with witnesses in the case.

Specifically, the day before, US Attorney Damian Williams asked Judge Lewis Kaplan to tighten restrictions on FTX crypto-exchange founder Sam Bunkman-Friede.

The defendant’s record is now before the court, which is clearly motivated to circumvent monitoring and find loopholes in the current bail conditions. Accordingly, the appropriate course here is broader restrictions on the defendant’s use of the smartphone, tablet, computer and internet with some exceptions.

Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan

However, the judge suggested that it was naive to believe that these restrictions would prevent Sam from using the internet. He lives with two parents who have laptops and mobile phones, so completely shielding him from the outside world is almost unrealistic. Prosecutor Nicholas Roos supported this suggestion – he said more radical incentives are needed – like a potential lifting of the conditions of release.

There is a solution to the problem that so far no one has suggested.

Bankman-Fried’s parents’ house in Palo Alto

That is, if Sam ends up back in prison, he won’t be able to influence witnesses in any way at all. Sam’s lawyers, however, did not support such drastic measures, insisting that Bankman-Fried’s presence was important for the work of liquidating the exchange’s debts. They are unlikely to have said anything different, though.

We can’t deal with these huge financial documents without him.

Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX


We think Sam Bankman-Fried's behaviour may characterise his situation as desperate. Still, the idea of contacting witnesses in his own court case is appalling, and such a thing could indeed be a reason to terminate house arrest. Apparently, the court does not intend to send the former businessman to prison just yet, but how long that will last is unknown. It is possible that in the near future Sam will once again pull some stunt that will make the judge question the decision. For example, Bunkman-Fried was recently caught watching the Super Bowl using a VPN.