See More

Sam Bankman-Fried Gets Tech Restriction Extended Amid Scrutiny of Former Employer

3 mins
Updated by Ryan James
Join our Trading Community on Telegram

In Brief

  • Sam Bankman-Fried has until April 11, 2023 to secure a phone with no internet and a laptop with limited capability.
  • The lawyers also asked Judge Lewis Kaplan to add Bankman-Fried's civil attorneys' file-sharing site to the list of allowed internet destinations on SBF's new laptop.
  • Jane Street Group, Bankman-Fried's former employer, was recently alleged to be Trading Firm C mentioned in the CFTC's recent lawsuit against Binance.
  • promo

Judge Lewis Kaplan approved Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers’ request to postpone the new bail restrictions to April 11, 2023, as he awaits new devices with stricter monitoring.

Sam Bankman-Fried Secures Extension for New Tech Restrictions Amid Scrutiny of Former Employer

His new mobile device will have no internet, while his new laptop will only allow access to sites whitelisted by U.S. prosecutors in an earlier filing.

Lawyers Apply to Include Civil Lawyers on VPN Whitelist

Sites that Bankman-Fried will be allowed to visit include Uber Eats, Spotify, and documents pertaining to his legal defense.

In their latest request, lawyers for the indicted former FTX boss Mark S. Cohen and Christian R. Everdell also asked Judge Kaplan to add a file-sharing site of Bankman-Fried’s civil attorneys, Montgomery McCracken Walker & Rhoades, to the whitelist.

The request from lawyers came about one month after U.S. prosecutors asked Judge Kaplan to impose new restrictions on Bankman-Fried’s internet and technology use on March 4, 2023.

Once an avid social media user, Bankman-Fried has not tweeted since Jan. 20, 2023.

Bankman-Fried stoked the judge’s ire when he used a virtual private network to watch the Super Bowl LVIII. Kaplan argued that using a VPN signaled an attempt to evade government surveillance and banned the technology’s use. He also restricted Bankman-Fried from using encrypted messaging services.

Bankman-Fried’s Former Employers Reportedly Implicated in Binance Lawsuit

Before starting FTX, Bankman-Fried worked at Jane Street, a Wall Street quant trading firm. The firm specializes in market-making for exchange-traded funds, including bond ETFs. It also has been paranoid about risk management, investing tens of millions on put options that will pay out if markets tank.

Paul Rowady, a director at Alphacution Research Conservatory specializing in business modeling, marketing, sales, and product strategy, said that Jane Street’s success could not have happened without “[embedding] outstanding risk management discipline, policies, and systems into everything.”

The firm’s commitment to risk management seems at odds with recent insider allegations that Jane Street was a market maker implicated in a recent Commodity Futures Trading Commission lawsuit against Binance.

According to Bloomberg, Jane Street was the anonymous Trading Firm C that Binance illegally allowed access to its derivatives trading desk. The lawsuit also reportedly implicates two other firms: Radix Trading and Tower Research Capital.

BeInCrypto has contacted Jane Street for comment. The firm had not responded by press time.

Sam Bankman-Fried: Ambition Blinded Him to Risk

Bankman-Fried faces thirteen criminal charges in the U.S., including conspiracy to commit money laundering, wire fraud, and bribing a Chinese official to unfreeze trading accounts of his bankrupt market-making firm, Alameda Research.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, denying claims that the collapse of FTX and Alameda in November resulted from any criminal activity on his part. Instead, the former FTX CEO blames the failures on poor risk management.

While Bankman-Fried allegedly adopted many of the trading strategies he learned at Jane Street, including applying arbitrage trading strategies to profit from small differences in Bitcoin price, former FTX.US vice-president and Bankman-Fried ally, Brett Harrison said that Bankman-Fried had missed the lessons on risk learned at Jane Street.

“If there was anything related to risk or compliance, that went above him,” Harrison told the New York Times.

“Perhaps he had tasted just enough success at Jane Street to make him think he could do it all on his own, without appreciating the magnitude of the operation that was being successfully administered at Jane Street.”

A piece written for the Global Association of Risk Professionals suggests that Bankman-Fried admission of risk management failure was rare among failed company leaders. However, it argued that the exchange’s failure was partly due to the arrogance of a leadership team headed by an unaccountable, “risk-deficient” CEO.

Bankman-Fried will face trial on Oct. 2, 2023.

For Be[In]Crypto’s latest Bitcoin (BTC) analysis, click here.

Top crypto platforms in the US | March 2024
Coinbase Coinbase Explore →
AlgosOne AlgosOne Explore →
Chain GPT Chain GPT Explore →
iTrustCapital iTrustCapital Explore →

Trusted

Disclaimer

In adherence to the Trust Project guidelines, BeInCrypto is committed to unbiased, transparent reporting. This news article aims to provide accurate, timely information. However, readers are advised to verify facts independently and consult with a professional before making any decisions based on this content. Please note that our Terms and ConditionsPrivacy Policy, and Disclaimers have been updated.

David-Thomas.jpg
David Thomas
David Thomas graduated from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal in Durban, South Africa, with an Honors degree in electronic engineering. He worked as an engineer for eight years, developing software for industrial processes at South African automation specialist Autotronix (Pty) Ltd., mining control systems for AngloGold Ashanti, and consumer products at Inhep Digital Security, a domestic security company wholly owned by Swedish conglomerate Assa Abloy. He has experience writing software in C,...
READ FULL BIO
Sponsored
Sponsored