The man who oversaw the most famous crash in the history of crypto and who is currently facing securities fraud and other criminal charges might lose his gaming privileges. Federal prosecutors are now asking a judge to prohibit Sam Bankman-Fried from using computers or going online after he allegedly repeatedly violated the conditions of his house arrest, including using a VPN to watch the Super Bowl.
In a February 15 letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan (via Coin Telegraph), the Southern District of New York asked the court to effectively prohibit Bankman-Fried from using any electronic devices except in very narrow instances like communicating with his lawyers or for discovery related to the ongoing criminal case against him.
The new conditions proposed by prosecutors include only allowing him the usage of a single computer and cellphone, both of which would be monitored. All messaging outside of Gmail, SMS, and Zoom would be strictly prohibited. No more spamming “get rekt” in the League of Legends all chat either.
Calls for a stricter crackdown come after Bankman-Fried apparently used a VPN to watch the Super Bowl. Prosecutors are anxious about the former crypto billionaire having access to any tools that might allow him to secretly communicate with witnesses in his case, especially after it was recently revealed that he contacted one of them to “reconnect” and build a “constructive relationship” together following the FTX fallout.
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Bankman-Fried has been locked in his parents’ home in California since December, after posting the biggest bond in American history ($250 million) upon being charged with engineering the biggest crypto swindle in American history (many billions). Before all of that, however, the FTX founder was a well-known League of Legends enthusiast, even playing it during meetings with investors who would go on to lose potentially millions when his crypto house of cards collapsed.
He apparently played LoL as poorly as he managed crypto exchanges, with one report by the Financial Times appearing to indicate that Bankman-Fried struggled to make it out of Bronze rank. Always an avid gamer though, he told The New York TImes he’s a big fan of the card-based auto-battler Storybook Brawl on Steam. “It helps me unwind a bit,” he said at the time. “It clears my mind.”
If federal prosecutors get their way, Bankman-Fried will have to find another way to chill out and pass the time as he awaits trial. Maybe his parents will get him a Nintendo Switch. Given the state of its online connectivity and the fact you can’t message friends on it, maybe the court would let it slide.
