FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to new US charges
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to new criminal charges against the crypto entrepreneur as his legal troubles expand in the wake of FTX's 2022 collapse.
The 31-year-old in January first pleaded not guilty to an initial eight-count indictment alleging he stole billions of FTX customer funds and misled investors. A second four-count indictment in February alleged he conspired to commit bank fraud. Now a third indictment unsealed Tuesday adds one additional count by accusing him of also directing $40 million in bribes to Chinese government officials.
On Thursday Bankman-Fried's attorney told a U.S. District Court in Manhattan that his client is pleading not guilty on the five new charges added over the last two months but that he is not agreeing he can be tried on the new charges. FTX, one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges, filed for bankruptcy last November, and Bankman-Fried was arrested in December.
Other former colleagues charged in Bankman-Fried's criminal case are now cooperating with prosectors. They include Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Bankman-Fried's hedge fund Alameda Research, as well as two former FTX executives Gary Wang and Nishad Singh. All three have pleaded guilty.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan earlier this week ruled to further restrict Bankman-Fried’s access to technology after weeks of negotiations. Bankman-Fried, who is waiting his October trial at his parent’s home in Palo Alto, Calif., can use a customized laptop with certain pre-approved websites.
He will also have a security guard stationed at the front door of his house to check visitors for electronic devices while a consulting technician will also monitor his technology usage three times a week.
The issue first came to the court’s attention when prosecutors discovered Bankman-Fried had been contacting potential witness Ryne Miller, current general counsel for FTX’s U.S. subsidiary, through encrypted messaging applications.
“The new charge does not change the government’s position with respect to the appropriate conditions of release,” prosecutors wrote in a letter to Judge Kaplan before Thursday's hearing.
The new charge added this week, of conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, centers on allegations Bankman-Fried authorized and directed bribes to Chinese officials in order to influence the authorities to unfreeze trading accounts containing over $1 billion in crypto belonging to Alameda.
Before bribing officials, according to prosectors, Bankman-Fried and others at his direction made numerous unsuccessful attempts to regain access to those accounts. They retained attorneys to lobby in China, communicated with Chinese exchanges and opened new accounts with the exchanges using non-affiliated FTX and Alameda identification, prosectors said.
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