Bankman-Fried, 30, is accused of illegally diverting large sums of buyer cash from FTX to make lavish actual property purchases, donate cash to politicians and make dangerous trades at his cryptocurrency hedge fund buying and selling agency.
(Craig Ruttle / AP)
Bankrupt crypto firm FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried has pleaded not responsible in Manhattan federal court docket.
Bankman-Fried’s legal professional, Mark Cohen, introduced his consumer’s plea on Tuesday, saying: “He pleads not responsible to all counts.”
Bankman-Fried is being charged with cheating investors and looting customer deposits on his cryptocurrency trading platform.
Bankman-Fried, 30, is accused of illegally diverting massive sums of customer money from FTX to make lavish real estate purchases, donate money to politicians and make risky trades at Alameda Research, his cryptocurrency hedge fund trading firm.
Wearing a backpack, Bankman-Fried marched through a crush of cameras as he entered the courthouse on a rainy day to make his first appearance before Judge Lewis A. Kaplan. Besides taking a plea during the arraignment, Kaplan was expected to discuss with lawyers a schedule for proceeding toward a trial.
Prior to his appearance, his lawyers sent a letter to the judge, saying Bankman-Fried’s parents in recent weeks have become the target of “intense media scrutiny, harassment, and threats, including communications expressing a desire that they suffer physical harm.”
As a end result, the attorneys requested that the names be redacted on court docket paperwork for the 2 people who have been lined as much as signal Bankman-Fried’s $250 million private recognizance bond. Bankman-Fried was launched with digital monitoring about two weeks in the past on the situation that he await trial at his mother and father’ home in Palo Alto, California.
Carolyn Ellison, 28, who ran Alameda, and Gary Wang, 29, who co-founded FTX, have pleaded responsible to fraud expenses and are cooperating with prosecutors in a bid for leniency. Both are free on bail.
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Their pleas have been stored secret till Bankman-Fried was within the air after his extradition from the Bahamas, the place FTX relies, as a result of fears that he would possibly flee.
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Shortly earlier than Bankman-Fried’s arraignment, US Attorney Damian Williams introduced that he was launching a job power made up of senior prosecutors in his workplace to research and prosecute issues associated to the FTX collapse. He mentioned the duty power additionally will work to hint and recuperate sufferer property.
“The Southern District of New York is working around the clock to respond to the implosion of FTX,” Williams said in a press release. “It is an all-hands-on-deck moment. We are launching the SDNY FTX Task Force to ensure that this urgent work continues, powered by all of SDNY’ s resources and expertise until justice is done.”
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Source: TRTWorld and businesses
