According to a source familiar, Fallen crypto billionaire Sam Bankman Fried is expected to plead not guilty Tuesday to criminal charges that he cheated investors at his now-bankrupt FTX currency exchange.
Bankman-Fried is charged with illegally using FTX customer funds to support his Alameda Research hedge fund, buy real property, and make millions in political contributions. This fraud, according to prosecutors, is a fraud of epic proportions.
Sam Bankman-Fried is scheduled to appear at 2pm ET (7pm GMT) before US district judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan #NewYork 🇺🇸 https://t.co/S8z9WrEiFF
— ShareTalkNews™ (@ShareTalkNews) January 3, 2023
He will appear before US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan at 2 PM ET.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyer did not respond to our request for comment immediately.
Criminal defendants may initially plead not guilty. The defendants can change their plea at any time.
After his extradition from the Bahamas last month, Bankman-Fried was free on a $250m bond. He had been living in the Bahamas and the exchange was based.
Bankman-Fried was released from prison after being subject to electronic surveillance. He is now required to live with his parents at Stanford Law School, California.
Two counts of wire fraud were filed against a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate. Six conspiracy charges were also brought against him, including the ability to launder money and violate campaign finance laws. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 115-year imprisonment.
Although Bankman-Fried admitted that he made mistakes in running FTX, he said he didn’t believe he was criminally liable.
After riding a boom in bitcoin’s value and other digital assets, the 30-year-old crypto mogul became a billionaire and an influential political donor in America. FTX crashed in November after a series of withdrawals. On 11 November, the exchange declared bankruptcy.
Bankman-Fried lost a lot of his net worth which was once valued at $26bn. Later, he stated that he had $100,000 in his savings account.
Two of Bankman-Fried’s closest associates pleaded guilty to the charges last month, strengthening the prosecution case.
Caroline Ellison, Alameda’s chief executive officer, and Gary Wang (FTX’s former chief technological officer) pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
The US Securities & Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Bankman-Fried also sued Wang and Ellison. The regulators stated that Ellison and Wang had settled these civil cases.
John Ray, FTX’s new chief executive, is well-known for his work with Enron Corp’s bankruptcy. He stated that FTX was being run by “grossly inexperienced” people.
