U.S. prosecutors on Friday asked a Manhattan judge to impose tougher bail conditions on Sam Bankman-Fried, expressing concern that the founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange might tamper with witnesses or destroy evidence in his criminal case, Reuters reported. Citing Bankman-Fried's "recent attempts to contact prospective witnesses," prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to ban Bankman-Fried from communicating with current or former employees of FTX or his Alameda Research hedge fund, other than family, unless a lawyer is present. They also asked that Bankman-Fried not use Signal or other encrypted call and messaging applications, though he could still communicate through text messages, email and the phone. Bankman-Fried, 30, has been free on $250 million bond and required to live with his parents since pleading not guilty to looting billions of dollars from the now-bankrupt FTX.
