US authorities seek to bar SBF from communicating with witnesses

The U.S. Department of Justice filed a request to modify the bail agreement for former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). Prosecutors allege that he used the Signal messenger to send encrypted messages to a potential witness in the bankruptcy of the exchange.

The document describes attempts by the former top executive to contact the ‘current chief legal officer of FTX US’ Ryan Miller.

“I would like to restore contact and see if there is a way for us to build constructive relations, use each other where possible, or … verify facts with each other,” Bankman-Fried wrote to him.

Similar attempts by SBF were made with other current and former FTX employees, according to the filing.

According to prosecutors, the desire to ‘verify facts’ suggests an attempt to influence the testimony of potential witnesses.

Representatives of the U.S. Department of Justice urged the judge to bar Bankman-Fried from contacting current or former FTX and Alameda Research employees, including via any encrypted messaging apps.

The former exchange chief could bypass the restriction if an attorney participates in the negotiations or if he receives the appropriate government authorization, the filing says.

Such a ban would prevent obstructing justice. Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, in the cooperation with the investigation, noted the possibility of SBF using messengers such as Signal and Slack with auto-delete features.

“Many court cases rely on documentation. It is much harder to build the case if information is not recorded or preserved,” Ellison explained to prosecutors, according to prosecutors.

Attorneys for the former head of FTX opposed the U.S. DOJ’s motion, calling the proposed measures ‘overly broad’.

“The proposal […] is simply unworkable. For example, SBF without the participation of lawyers would not be able to talk to his therapist, who is a former FTX employee, — the filing states.

The lawyers proposed excluding from Bankman-Fried’s contact circle current and former employees of FTX and Alameda, including Ellison, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh.

Representatives for the former head of the exchange described his message to Miller as ‘a merely harmless attempt to offer help in the FTX bankruptcy process and not reflect wrongdoing’.

The messages sent to the counsel did not include an auto-delete feature. SBF also duplicated them by e-mail. In other words, Bankman-Fried did not attempt to evade detection, the lawyers stressed.

Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered to provide ‘full copies’ of the messages allegedly exchanged between SBF and Miller.

Earlier, former FTX US head Brett Harrison accused Sam Bankman-Fried of ‘gaslighting and manipulation’ during their interactions in the development of the American unit.

On December 12, 2022, Bahamian authorities arrested SBF at the request of the U.S. government.

As part of the investigation into the exchange’s collapse, the U.S. prosecutors filed charges against him in eight counts. The former FTX chief did not plead guilty.

At the end of 2022, Bankman-Frieddenied involvement in moving assets from wallets linked to Alameda Research.

Before that, DeFi analyst BowTiedIguana exposed SBF for moving $684,000 in cryptocurrency and violating the terms of the bail in the amount of $250 million.

Earlier, FTX lawyers asked the court to permit calling Bankman-Fried, his family and some former top executives of the company.

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