- Sam Bankman-Fried is known to be an avid “League of Legends” player.
- He’s said to have played it at a pitch meeting, and says he’s been gaming while under house arrest.
- But he will lose access to his favorite game if a new bail agreement is approved.
Avid gamer and disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will lose access to his favorite game, “League of Legends,” while living with his parents on bail — if conditions proposed by his lawyers are approved.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyers reached an agreement with New York prosecutors on Monday to ban him from using most electronic devices while awaiting trial, per court documents seen by Insider. His trial is set for October 2.
Under the proposed conditions, he’ll be allowed to use a mobile phone that’s not connected to the internet and a laptop with access to a small list of websites. His parents, who have computers and phones, agreed to block Bankman-Fried from accessing their own devices with a password. “Monitoring software” will also be installed on their electronics if bail conditions are approved.
The conditions also say Bankman-Fried will be prohibited from accessing any video games or gaming hardware that “permit chat or voice communication.”
The lawyers propose that his laptop would only have access to FTX websites and the crypto exchange’s transactional database, his lawyers’ websites and Zoom meeting room, government websites, read-only blockchain explorers, Wikipedia, YouTube, Spotify, DoorDash, UberEats, and Netflix.
Bankman-Fried will also be given access to several news outlets, such as Bloomberg, The New York Times, and Insider, as well as the MLB and NFL websites, the proposal suggested.
No games or gaming platforms were listed.
This might be a blow to Bankman-Fried, who said in January that he was playing video games alone while under house arrest.
Bankman-Fried, who was arrested in the Bahamas in December, previously touted his penchant for the online game “League of Legends.”
“Why do I play so much League of Legends?” mused Bankman-Fried in a February 2021 Twitter thread, where he talked about his gaming habits.
“I’m (in)famous for playing League of Legends while on calls,” Bankman-Fried tweeted.
“Some people drink too much; some gamble. I play League,” he added.
—SBF (@SBF_FTX) February 4, 2021
He was even caught playing the online multiplayer game, which allows players to communicate via both text and voice, while in a pitch meeting, according to Ramnik Arora, FTX’s head of product.
But Bankman-Fried isn’t very good at playing “League of Legends,” according to billionaire Elon Musk and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Musk tweeted in December that Bankman-Fried “was bad at League,” while Ocasio-Cortez in November mocked the FTX co-founder for being a “Bronze III” player.
Meanwhile, the game’s developer, Riot Games, asked a Delaware court in December to nullify a seven-year sponsorship deal between one of its subsidiaries and FTX. It said the exchange owes Riot Games millions in payments and caused the developer “reputational harm” after its collapse.
Bankman-Fried is accused by the US of funneling billions of dollars in FTX customers’ funds into his cryptocurrency trading firm, Alameda. He faces multiple criminal fraud and money laundering charges, which he pleaded not guilty to. He was indicted on Tuesday and accused of trying to bribe Chinese officials with $40 million.
Representatives for Bankman-Fried declined to comment when reached by Insider.
The US Attorney for the Southern District of New York did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.