In a report published on August 22nd, Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, the former CEO and co-founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, denied allegations of fraud and money laundering in an updated court filing by prosecutors.
The court session on August 22nd was presided over by Judge Sarah Netburn. In the filed indictment, the former CEO of FTX was charged with seven counts of fraud and money laundering, along with an additional financial charge related to a political campaign. However, Bankman-Fried denied all the charges against him.
A notable point during the court session, aside from the denial of the accusations, was Bankman-Fried expressing concerns about the prison’s dietary and medical regime. He shared that he needed to use Adderall and follow a vegetarian diet, but it had been 11 days since his detention and he had not received his medication.
Furthermore, Bankman-Fried’s legal team also cited violations of his rights under the Sixth Amendment, stating that their client couldn’t adequately prepare for the trial due to his detention since August 11th. Therefore, they could only provide “hypothetical” solutions.
Bankman-Fried appeared in the South New York District Court on August 22nd, facing accusations of misusing customer funds for personal use and making political contributions. The allegations of fraud and money laundering date back to December 2022; however, prosecutors added additional financial allegations to the campaign at the beginning of this month.
Currently, the latest proceedings in the FTX case are ongoing after SBF’s bail money was revoked and he left the courtroom with handcuffs.
Prior to this, Bankman-Fried had requested the court to allow him five days a week outside of detention to work with his legal defense team. However, a federal judge overseeing Bankman-Fried’s criminal case issued an order allowing him to meet his legal team outside of prison for up to seven hours each day.