Court Prohibits Sam Bankman-Fried from Accessing FTX and Alameda Funds

On Tuesday, a modification was made to the bail agreement of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, prohibiting him from accessing or transferring funds related to FTX or Alameda Research as a new condition of his bail.

The request was submitted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon during Bankman-Fried’s arraignment in Manhattan, acting on behalf of the government. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who is presiding over the Bankman-Fried case, approved the measure.

In the proceedings, Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges involving fraud and money laundering. A trial date for Bankman-Fried was also set for October 2.

The amendment followed activities involving wallets linked to Alameda last week. Just a few days after Bankman-Fried was released on bail, cryptocurrencies worth approximately $1.7 million associated with Alameda were transferred to mixers, applications often used to obscure transactions, according to Arkham Intelligence.

After being arrested in the Bahamas and spending several days in a correctional facility, Bankman-Fried was released from custody upon his return to the U.S. As part of the bail agreement, Bankman-Fried’s parents’ home in California was posted as collateral, and he agreed to electronic monitoring, house arrest, among other requirements.

Alameda is Bankman-Fried’s trading firm, which was established before the launch of FTX. Part of the charges against Bankman-Fried stems from allegations that client funds were illegally transferred to Alameda to finance its bets.

After reports of last week’s transfers began to circulate, Bankman-Fried spoke out on Twitter for the first time since his arrest in the Bahamas, denying involvement in activities that included wallets linked to Alameda.

– “None of that was me. I couldn’t have moved any of those funds. I no longer have access to them,” SBF tweeted.

At the arraignment on Tuesday, one of Bankman-Fried’s attorneys, Mark Cohen, reiterated that the transfers did not involve his client. Additionally, Cohen stated that the government had been contacted regarding the matter.

Proposing a modified bail agreement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sassoon stated that federal prosecutors were unaware if Bankman-Fried had recently executed transfers related to Alameda, but she noted that at one point he had access to the wallets and claimed that the statements of the disgraced CEO could not be trusted due to previous false statements made on Twitter.

As an example, Sassoon referenced a tweet posted by Bankman-Fried just days before FTX filed for bankruptcy in November.

– “FTX is fine. Assets are fine,” Bankman-Fried stated in a now-deleted tweet.