FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Pleads Not Guilty to Charges in Court Appearance

Sam Bankman-Fried, the creator of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, pleaded not guilty once more when he appeared in court recently on allegations of fraud and money laundering. These accusations are related to his crypto enterprise, FTX, which failed last year.

New Indictment and Allegations

The Southern District of New York courtroom hosted this court hearing after Bankman-Fried was charged with utilizing client cash for a number of things, including buying personal real estate and giving to political campaigns. These accusations were added to the initial indictment that was filed in December and relate to campaign fundraising. Prosecutors stated that they could not file this accusation expressly because of treaty responsibilities with the Bahamas, thus this insertion was required.

Courtroom Proceedings

Magistrate Judge Sarah Neburn presided over the hearings. She methodically spelled out each accusation and asked Bankman-Fried whether she wanted her to read the complete indictment. After rejecting the deal, Bankman-Fried immediately entered a plea.

After being denied bail earlier in the month, Bankman-Fried made his first court appearance at this time. He looked at his mother, Barbara Fried, who was in the crowd and smiled briefly while wearing a tan uniform. He then walked with a U.S. Marshal behind him to the table where his lawyers were seated. A notable difference between this arraignment and the hearing on August 11 was that his father, Joseph Bankman, was not present.

In the minutes before the arraignment, Bankman-Fried had a profound discussion with his legal team.

Legal Requests and Sixth Amendment Rights

This court date was set in response to demands by Bankman-Fried’s defense team for daily meetings with his lawyers and access to laptop computers with internet connection at the U.S. Attorney’s office. The case’s judge, Lewis Kaplan, decided on Monday that Bankman-Fried might consult with his lawyers there up to 3:00 p.m. EDT that day. The more general request for laptops with internet access is still waiting, though.

Christian Everdell, one of Bankman-Fried’s attorneys, brought up the matter once more at the hearing on Tuesday, claiming that his client’s Sixth Amendment rights were being infringed. Everdell underlined that Bankman-Fried hasn’t had access to discovery since his arrest. In order to successfully transmit his work product and analysis to his legal team, he said that Bankman-Fried required internet-enabled computers to evaluate the “millions of” papers produced during discovery.

Danielle Kudla, an assistant US attorney, noted that Judge Kaplan had already heard this case and had denied the request. As Magistrate Judge Neburn wrapped up the conversation, the courtroom temporarily broke out in laughing.