Federal prosecutors have opposed the request of Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers, who asked the judge to provide their client with an internet-enabled laptop and access to a meeting room at the courthouse five days a week. In a Tuesday court filing, the prosecutors argued that Bankman-Fried’s access to technology goes above and beyond what other defendants received in similar circumstances, media reports said.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s regular trial begins on October 3, and his lawyers are currently preparing his defense. In the previous court filing, Bankman-Fried’s defense team told the judge that the laptop provided to his client had limited battery life, and the cellblock provided for the meeting with lawyers had no power outlet to charge the laptop battery.
They also revealed that the internet signal during the meeting was weak. Bankman-Fried can meet his lawyers in the courthouse twice a week to prepare his defense. During this period, he can use an internet-enabled laptop with Microsoft Office, Excel, PowerPoint, and Adobe Acrobat. At the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he has been kept after his bail was revoked earlier this month, Bankman-Fried has access to a laptop that is not connected to the internet.
In the letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan, prosecutors argued that the technological restrictions imposed on Bankman-Fried were necessary given his involvement in “witness tampering” during his bail.
“The defendant’s unlimited access to these resources was curtailed solely as a consequence of his own criminal activities while on bail,” prosecutors said in the letter.
