A federal judge has granted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers permission to meet with their client in prison after revoking his bail just weeks before his trial. According to the order, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers can take unlimited advantage of the legal visitation hours at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York to prepare for the upcoming trial. The judge also said Bankman-Fried will have frequent access to a computer to review discovery materials, and can request selected materials be loaded onto hard drives for his viewing.
The judge’s concessions fell short of the defense’s requests that Bankman-Fried be released for daily hours-long meetings at his lawyers’ office in Manhattan or transferred to a lower-security prison in Putnam County. Bankman-Fried was sent to a high-security prison two weeks ago after the judge ruled he had violated his bail conditions by attempting to contact witnesses slated to testify against him. Prosecutors also accused him of using a virtual private network (VPN) to speak to one of his former executives and leaking former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison’s diary entries to the New York Times.