Federal prosecutors said FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried contacted the former general counsel of the cryptocurrency trading platform.

Federal prosecutors said FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried contacted the former general counsel of the cryptocurrency trading platform earlier this month in what they say could constitute witness tampering.

A spokesman for Bankman-Fried declined to comment.

The video in the media player is taken from the previous report.

Prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York have asked the judge to change the terms of Bankman-Fried’s bail to prevent him from communicating with current or former employees of FTX or hedge fund subsidiary Alameda research unless he is with his lawyer or does not have government approval.

They also want the judge to ban Bankman-Freed from using any encrypted communication devices for fear that it will interfere with an ongoing investigation.

Prosecutors said in a letter to the judge that Bankman-Fried contacted the former FTX General Counsel on January 15 using Signal and email, stating, “I would very much like to reconnect and see if there is a way for us to establish a constructive relationship.” use each other as resources whenever possible, or at least check on each other.”

The contact, prosecutors say, is suggestive of witness tampering, as a former general counsel who is identified as “Witness 1” could testify against Bankman-Freed in court.

“The efforts of the accused to improve his relationship with potential witnesses who might testify against him may themselves constitute witness falsification,” prosecutors wrote.

“The government questioned Witness-1, who has first-hand knowledge of the defendant’s behavior during the conspiracy allegations, including during the November 2022 FTX crash. Witness-1 was involved in Signal and Slack communications with the defendant and a small group of companies. insiders during relevant November 2022 events. In these communications, among other things, the defendant instructed to liquidate Alameda’s investment to satisfy FTX customer withdrawals and indicated that he transferred approximately $45 million of Alameda’s funds to FTX US to fill an apparent hole in FTX US’s balance sheet, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said it is likely that many of the current and former FTX and Alameda employees will be witnesses in court, adding that their investigation is ongoing and they are still identifying potential witnesses.

In addition to limiting Bankman-Fried’s contact with former colleagues, prosecutors want to restrict his use of Signal and Slack, messaging apps that allow users to automatically delete messages after a certain period of time.

Prosecutors say Caroline Ellison, a former Alameda chief executive who pleaded guilty and is cooperating with her, told them that Bankman-Fried pointed out that “many court cases involve documentation, and it’s harder to build a case if the information isn’t recorded or preserved.” “.

Authorities said the lack of communication with Slack and Signal had already “hampered” his investigation. Several potential witnesses have told prosecutors about “revealing conversations” they had with Bankman-Freed about messaging platforms that were removed because Bankman-Freed had set the programs to automatically delete after 30 days.

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