Crypto Bro from Big Crash may lose access to League Of Legends

by Arthur · February 16, 2023

Sam Bankman-Fried stands in front of a piece of League of Legends art.

The man who oversaw the most famous crash in crypto history and is currently facing securities fraud and other criminal charges could lose his playing privileges. Federal prosecutors are now asking a judge to ban Sam Bankman-Fried from using computers or going online after he allegedly repeatedly violated the terms of his house arrest, including using a VPN to watch the Super Bowl.

In a Feb. 15 letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan (via Coin Telegraph), the Southern District of New York asked the court to effectively bar Bankman-Fried from using electronic devices, except in very narrow circumstances such as communicating with his lawyers or to discover the pending criminal case against him.

The new conditions proposed by prosecutors include only allowing him to use a single computer and mobile phone, both of which will be monitored. All messages outside of Gmail, SMS and Zoom will be strictly prohibited. No more spamming “get straight” in League of Legends all chat rather.

Calls for tougher action come after Bankman-Fried apparently used a VPN to watch the Super Bowl. Prosecutors are concerned that the former crypto-billionaire should have access to any tools that could allow him to secretly communicate with witnesses in his case, especially after it was recently revealed that he contacted one of them to “rewire” and build a “constructive relationship” together after the FTX fallout.

Bankman-Fried has been locked up in her parents’ home in California since December, after posting the largest bond in US history ($250 million) after being charged with masterminding the largest crypto scam in US history (multi-billion). Before all this, however, the FTX founder was a well-known figure League of Legends enthusiast, even playing it during meetings with investors who would go on to lose potentially millions when his house of crypto cards collapsed.

He was obviously playing lol as bad as he managed crypto exchange, with a report from Financial Times seems to indicate that Bankman-Fried struggled to get out of bronze rank. But always a keen player, he said New York Times he’s a big fan of the card-based auto-battler Storybook Brawl on Steam. “It helps me relax a little 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 relax and pass the time while he awaits trial. Maybe his parents will get him a Nintendo Switch. Given the state of the online connection and the fact that you can’t message friends on it, perhaps the court would let it slide.