- This is what the court ruled
- The counselor will check gadgets three times a week
The court in the Sam Benkman-Fried case approved new rules for the oversight of his parents’ smartphones. Recall that the ex-head of FTX is under house arrest in their home.
Prosecutors recently banned SBF from using a smartphone with Internet access – he’s switching to a regular push-button phone.
Parents could leave their devices behind, but install a special app that takes selfies every 5 minutes. There were difficulties with the last condition.
Modern devices do not support downloading third-party spyware. So the attorneys filed a motion that they could not comply with this condition of arrest.
In response, Judge Lewis Kaplan approved another option. Fried’s parents will install an app that will store a history of tabs, visits and calls.
And three times a week these records will be checked by a “specially trained person”. According to the court, that’s enough to meet the bail conditions.
That is, the app won’t take selfies every 5 minutes. It will record sites visited and take screenshots. The software will also save any iMessage messages, voice calls, and FaceTime calls.
The technical advisor must check all activity and make sure no “unauthorized activity” is being conducted through the smartphones.
Such strict rules are needed to keep Sam Benkman-Fried from communicating with those involved in the case and influencing the investigation.