Sam Bankman-Fried Pleads Not Guilty to Criminal Charges in ‘Epic’ FTX Cryptocurrency Exchange Fraud – This is All You Need to Know
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty in a New York court on Tuesday, where the judge scheduled the trial against the former crypto mogul to begin in the fall.
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan decided during Tuesday’s hearing that Bankman-Fried’s trial will begin on October 2 this year. It has been estimated that the trial could last for around four weeks.
Bankman-Fried himself did not speak to the judge during the court appearance, but instead conferred privately with his lawyers, per a Reuters report.
Among those who did speak during the hearing, however, federal prosecutor Danielle Sassoon made it clear that she believes Bankman-Fried is guilty, and that he was responsible for misappropriating customer funds at FTX.
"Customer funds were […] used and laundered through political donations, charitable donations and a variety of venture investments," Sassoon said, while hinting that the government has plenty of evidence against the former crypto exchange boss.
Bankman-Fried could face up to 115 years in prison if convicted in the trial. He has previously admitted mistakes during his time as the head of FTX, but has denied any criminal liability.
Videos circulating online shows the chaos outside the New York courtroom as Bankman-Fried arrived:
In addition to setting a date for the trial to begin, the judge also took the opportunity to impose new conditions on Bankman-Fried’s record $250m bail.
Under the updated conditions, the FTX founder is not allowed to access assets belonging to FTX or the affiliated trading firm Alameda Research, which some have speculated that he has had secret access to. According to prosecutors, asset transfers from Alameda after the collapse are already being probed, even though there is no
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