As we have already noted, Sam Bunkman-Fried is under house arrest at his parents’ home. As previously reported by sources, he sometimes leaves it for jogging, which is accompanied by security. Overall, the former businessman is preparing for a court hearing scheduled for October 2, 2023. He has previously pleaded not guilty, so prosecutors will try to prove their own case.

In the meantime, Sam’s situation is gradually getting worse. As became known last week, former CTO Nishad Singh pleaded guilty to criminal charges in the US. At the same time, he has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in the FTX collapse case. Accordingly, one of the key employees of the trading platform will be testifying against Sam.

According to Singh, he was already aware in mid-2022 that trading company Alameda Research was using funds from users of the FTX crypto exchange without their knowledge. Such activity is illegal and in addition violates FTX's terms of use.

Earlier, former Alameda Research executive Caroline Allison and FTX crypto-exchange co-founder Gary Wang agreed to cooperate with the authorities. They pleaded guilty to charges that put them at a total of 110 and 50 years in prison respectively. Naturally, thanks to the cooperation of the investigation, this sentence will be considerably less.

It is therefore in Allison’s and Wang’s interests to prove Sam Bankman-Fried’s guilt in this case. That means a lot of unknown details about FTX and Alameda management will surely await us once the trial begins.

In the second half of February further charges of illegal donations to politicians were brought against Sam. According to prosecutors, Bankman-Fried used a fake donor scheme, meaning he sent money to officials not in his own name. And this is cause for more potential problems.

What’s going on with the founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX

Bankman-Friede’s lawyers had submitted another request to a judge the day before. They argue that Sam should be able to use the internet, keep up with the news, order goods on Amazon, watch Netflix and call for home delivery. A motion to that effect was filed by lawyer Damian Williams.

Williams wrote a second letter to federal judge Lewis Kaplan after consulting with the former CEO’s legal team. The former eventually amended Sam’s bail conditions by setting out a list of permitted websites he can visit on a new, specially configured laptop. Here’s a relevant quote from the lawyer’s proposal.

The list of websites is divided into two categories: websites that the defence believes are necessary for the defendant to participate in the preparation of his defence, and websites that the defendant would like to use for other purposes. These, in the opinion of the government, do not pose a danger to the public.

For Sam’s personal use, the list includes Amazon, The Wall Street Journal, New York Times and other crypto news resources like Decrypt and CoinDesk, streaming services Netflix and Spotify, and food delivery services DoorDash and Uber Eats. MLB.com and NFL.com are also on the list.

Acceptable sites for legal preparation in the case included blockchain observers like Etherscan, cryptocurrency price trackers like CoinGecko or CoinMarketCap and various resources ranging from Wikipedia to YouTube. All government websites have also been allowed. Sam’s laptop will be set up with a VPN to comply with restrictions within the list of websites to access. He also wants access to Gmail, Google Drive and Google Docs, “which the defence lawyer uses to share information with clients”.

Sam has also been asked to be allowed to use Microsoft Office, Zoom, Adobe Acrobat, Docusign and password management app 1password. Although his parents are users of the Apple device ecosystem, the laptop given to him will be Windows-based, as Notepad and Notepad++ are on the list of allowed software.

To track his communications and internet activity, Bankman-Fried “will not object to the installation of court-approved logging software on his phone number, Gmail account and other applications”. Sam’s parents’ devices will be password-protected, plus they will also be monitored at all times to ensure that Bankman-Fried cannot use software that goes beyond the lawyers’ motion.


We don't think more freedom for Sam Bankman-Fried will be good for the fair course of the case. Still, the FTX founder has previously admitted to missing billions of dollars from users of the crypto platform, but has not admitted his own guilt. In addition, he tried to contact former and current employees of the company, which could be seen as an attempt to influence the case. With this in mind, Sam needs additional oversight of his actions, as this man will clearly stop at nothing to save himself.