The agreement comes as a result of federal prosecutors looking to ban SBF from contacting current or former FTX and Alameda employees while on house arrest.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers have reached out to federal prosecutors about his use of the messaging app.
As one Feb. Case 6, both parties agree that SBF “shall not use encrypted or ephemeral messaging applications, including but not limited to tokenization.”
However, under the agreement, the former FTX CEO will have access to FaceTime, Zoom, iMessage, SMS, email, and Facebook Messenger.
He will also be allowed to use WhatsApp’s encrypted messaging service, but only if “surveillance technology is installed on his mobile phone that records and stores all WhatsApp messages.”
The latest agreement follows pressure in late January from federal prosecutors to prevent SBF from contacting current or former employees of FTX or its sister business Alameda Research. In particular, the prosecutors alleged that on Jan. 15 SBF attempted to “influence” the testimony of FTX US General Counsel Ryne Miller through encrypted messaging applications.
On January 30, SBF was said to have approached FTX CEO John Ray to discuss ways to fund the company linked to the Alameda wallet. As it stands, the February 1 decision states that SBF is prohibited from communicating with current or former employees of FTX or Alameda “except in the presence of an attorney” to stay on bail pending trial. SBF has been in prison in Palo Alto, Calif. since late December and his criminal trial will begin in October in federal court in Manhattan.
Meanwhile, the FTX payment process continues in the District of Delaware. During the testimony of the court on February 6, FTX CEO Ray reported how difficult it was to take control of the company in November. Ray said that “there is not one list of anything” related to bank accounts, money, insurance, or employees in FTX, causing confusion regarding information.
The day he began guiding the company through Chapter 11 bankruptcy, FTX went bankrupt. “These hacks lasted almost all night […] It was really 48 hours of what I can describe as full hell,” he said.
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