In a recent development, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the disgraced founder of FTX, has once again contested his internet access conditions in prison, despite prosecutors’ claims of sufficient connectivity for his impending fraud trial.
SBF’s legal team expressed their concerns in a court filing, stating, “As we feared, the current plan does not work in practice.” They disagreed with the prosecutors’ assertion that SBF had adequate internet connectivity in prison to review crucial evidence before his trial.
Prosecutors had previously stated that they conducted multiple checks of internet connectivity within the prison facilities, confirming appropriate speeds. According to their recent court filing, they reported varying internet speeds throughout the day but deemed all three speeds sufficient for most online activities. They stated, “During the morning and early afternoon, the download transfer rate was recorded at 34 Mbps. During the late afternoon, the download transfer rate was recorded at 7.5 Mbps.”
However, SBF’s legal team vehemently disagreed with this assessment. They claimed that the internet connection was so slow that it took a staggering 10 minutes for a home page to load, severely hindering SBF’s ability to review evidence effectively.
The court filing highlighted the extent of the issue, stating, “By 1:00 pm – 1 1⁄2 hours later – Mr. Bankman-Fried was only able to load one document from the database to review. Effectively, Mr. Bankman-Fried had no access to the internet for the entire 5-hour period.”
SBF’s lawyers argued that, despite the prosecutors’ efforts, a satisfactory solution to the internet access problem in the prison cellblock remains elusive. This means that SBF lacks the necessary means to review and search through essential documents in the discovery database before his upcoming trial.
This latest challenge follows several previous attempts by SBF’s legal team to secure his release from prison or arrange for weekend confinement. Such arrangements would grant him more time to prepare his defence ahead of the impending trial.
Judge Lewis Kaplan has declined full temporary release for SBF but has granted him dedicated time to use a restricted laptop on weekdays. Additionally, Bankman-Fried enjoys relatively less restricted internet access on weekends while within the prison premises.
As the legal battle over SBF’s access to adequate internet connectivity continues, the outcome could significantly impact the preparation and proceedings of his upcoming fraud trial.
