US prosecutors raise concerns over SBF’s use of VPN

The U.S. prosecutors said FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried used Virtual Private Network (VPN) to access the internet on Jan. 29 and Feb. 12, according to a Feb. 13 letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan.

The prosecutors said SBF’s VPN use raises concern because the mechanism could hide online activities, make data transfers, and access the dark web. They added that some individuals use VPNs to access foreign crypto exchanges that block U.S. users.

However, the prosecutors conceded that many individuals also use the services for “benign purposes.”

The prosecutors added that SBF’s lawyers have eased the concerns and agreed that the defendant would not use the VPNs in the interim.

SBF lawyers respond

Meanwhile, SBF’s lawyers said the disgraced founder only used the VPN to watch the National Football League (NFL) playoffs and the Super Bowl via an international subscription he purchased when he was in the Bahamas.

“On January 29, 2023, he watched the AFC and NFC Championship games and on February 12, he watched the Super Bowl. This use of a VPN does not implicate any of the concerns raised by the Government in its letter.”

The lawyers also corroborated the U.S. government’s request to extend submissions on SBF bail conditions till Feb. 17.

SBF was recently barred from contacting FTX employees and using ephemeral messaging services like Signal.

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