Founder and former CEO of collapsed crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has pleaded “not guilty” in New Your court on Tuesday to eight counts of criminal charges.
This is no surprise as he has previously admitted to making mistakes with FTX but has not admitted to criminal liability.
The ex-crypto billionaire is charged with wire and securities fraud, money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to avoid campaign finance regulations. If convicted, Bankman-Fried could face up to 115 years in prison.
The date for the trial is set for 2 October, which is said could last four weeks.
Meanwhile, former CEO of Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison, and former CTO of FTX Trading Ltd., Zixiao (Gary) Wang, have already pleaded guilty to defrauding investors.
Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas where he lived and FTX was based in December. He was then extradited to the United States to face trial. He has been released on a $250 million bond and is required to live with his parents in California and subject to electronic monitoring.
The judge added another condition to Bankman-Fried’s bail on Tuesday forbidding him from accessing FTX assets or those of its affiliates. The condition was imposed following a request from Assistant US Attorney Danielle Sassoon who accused Bankman-Fried of wanted to move assets since significant amount of cryptos were moved from several Alameda wallets, although there has not been evidence, he was the one who made the transfers.
The Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB) and FTX’s debtors have started a public argument regarding FTX’s assets the Bahamas regulator is holding.
