SBF Tried to Influence a Former FTX Employee’s Testimony, US Prosecutors Claim

The disgraced founder and former CEO of FTX tried to contact and potentially influence the witness testimony of another exchange employee, according to the US Department of Justice.

As such, the prosecutors want to introduce two new rules for SBF’s bail.

• Sam Bankman-Fried was released on a $250 million bond in December last year, and he is confined to his parent’s house. However, he seems to have tried to contact FTX US General Counsel Ryne Miller on the encrypted messaging app Signal.
• Recall that this is not SBF’s first reported case of using Signal for controversial goals. He wanted to sell the highly disputed Robinhood shares through the app in 2022.
• The letter to Judge Kaplan outlined the message SBF sent to Miller:

“I would really love to reconnect and see if there’s a way for us to have a constructive relationship, use each other as resources when possible, or at least vet things with each other.”

• The DOJ believes Bankman-Fried also tried contacting other FTX and Alameda employees, which the prosecutor said suggests “an effort to influence” at least one of the witnesses’ future testimony.
• As such, the DOJ wants the Judge to amend SBF’s bail rules and include two more. The first is to prohibit him from contacting any current or former employees or related parties of FTX, Alameda, or any of their affiliated companies, except for family members.
• The second read that SBF should be constrained from using encrypted messaging applications such as Signal.