FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Pleads Not Guilty to US Criminal Charges

Sam Bankman-Fried, the Founder and former CEO of FTX, pleaded “not guilty” in a New York court on Tuesday to eight counts of criminal charges brought against him by the US prosecutors. His “not guilty” plea was expected, as one media report already revealed his stance before the court proceedings.Sam Bankman-Fried Pleads Not GuiltyBankman-Fried, once a crypto paper billionaire, is facing charges of conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, individual charges of wire and securities fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to avoid campaign finance regulations.He was indicted earlier this month by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which led to his arrest in the Bahamas. He was extradited to the United States for trial and is out on a $250 million recognizance bond secured by his family home in California.Bankman-Fried’s lawyers requested to seal the identity of the two individuals who had guaranteed the release on bail, citing public and media scrutiny concerns. The US District Judge Lewis Kaplan granted the motion.Sam Bankman-Fried appeared concentrated as entering NY Court today.He must’ve been concentrated indeed, as he was then able to plead “not guilty” to criminal charges in front the same Court. Now, the lengthy FTX trial is set for October. Re: Once again, SBF is buying time! pic.twitter.com/JMmX6n0z6z— CRYPTOBS (@Cryptobs_) January 4, 2023Sam Bankman-Fried’s Court Trial Slated for OctoberThe trial has now been scheduled to begin on October 2.Assistant US Attorney Danielle Sassoon requested the court to modify Bankman-Fried’s bail conditions by prohibiting him from accessing or transferring assets tied to FTX and its affiliates. This request came as a significant amount of cryptocurrencies were moved from several Alameda wallets. Moreover, Bankman-Fried tweeted earlier that he was not involved in those transfers, but Sassoon argued that he had “tweeted false statements” before. “This money is now inaccessible for the purposes of government seizure,” Sassoon said.Judge Kaplan ruled in favor of the prosecutors’ request denying Bankman-Fried access to any FTX or Alameda-related funds. However, Sassoon acknowledged the defense lawyers’ argument that Bankman-Fried is cooperating with the investigation.Furthermore, Sassoon told the court that the prosecution expects the bulk of discovery on the case in the coming weeks. The prosecutors will produce the documents it has access to, including the ones shared by FTX bankruptcy lawyers, over several weeks.Check out the Finance Magnates interview with Sam Bankman-Fried from 2021 when he was still regarded as a crypto ‘messiah’.While Bankman-Fried is preparing for a lengthy trial, two of his top associates, the former CEO of Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison, and Alameda and FTX’s Co-Founder, Zixiao (Gary) Wang, both pled guilty to criminal charges against them. They are now cooperating with the prosecutors revealing the internal operations of Bankman-Fried’s shady collapsed empire.Meanwhile, the FTX bankruptcy lawyers and debtors locked horns with the Bahamas regulator that is holding about $3.5 billion worth of FTX customer funds. The island’s regulator obtained these digital assets with a local court order after FTX filed for bankruptcy in the United States and is disputing the validity of the US Chapter 11 proceedings over local laws.
This article was written by Arnab Shome at www.financemagnates.com.

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