The Justice Department wants Sam Bankman-Fried to use a phone for the remainder of his bail

FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried may be stuck using a dumb phone for the foreseeable future. In a letter seen by , prosecutors involved in his criminal case said Friday that Bankman-Fried’s lawyers had agreed to change the terms of his bail agreement. Assuming the judge overseeing the case agrees to the changes, SBF will be limited to using a “non-smartphone” without an internet connection. Unless an attorney is present, he will also be prohibited from contacting current or former FTX and Alameda Research employees. Additionally, SBF will not be able to use encrypted messaging apps, including Signal.

The proposed restrictions come after Bankman-Fried allegedly attempted to contact the general counsel of FTX’s US subsidiary at the beginning of the year. “I would really love to reconnect and see if there is a way we can have a constructive relationship, use each other as resources when possible, or at least explore things with each other,” he said in a message according to the Ministry of Justice.
Earlier this week, Nishad Singh, FTX’s former director of engineering, was indicted on federal fraud and conspiracy charges. Singh is the third in Bankman-Fried’s inner circle to cooperate with prosecutors in the case against him. Late last year, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Zixiao “Gary” Wang pleaded guilty to fraud charges and said they would cooperate with investigators.

According to Bloomberg, District Judge Lewis Kaplan threatened to revoke Bankman-Fried’s bail and send him to jail before the start of his trial after learning that the disgraced entrepreneur may have influenced potential witnesses. Last month, Kaplan also banned Bankman-Fried from using a virtual private network (VPN) after his lawyers said he used one to watch a football game. According to Reuters, Kaplan said he did not want SBF “loose in this sea of ​​electronic devices.”

Under the amended bail agreement, SBF would be allowed to use a laptop to surf the web, but his access would be filtered through a VPN that would limit him to two categories of websites. One category would include resources that his defense team says are critical to his case. The others list 23 websites that SBF could use to order food, read news and watch streaming content. No word yet on whether the proposed restrictions would restrict him from playing League of Legends.