FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to fraud
- The ex-cryptocurrency boss, who is accused of cheating investors and looting customer deposits, will face trial in October
- His lawyers have asked that the identity of the guarantors for Bankman-Fried’s US$250 million bail be kept secret, citing threats to his parents
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday to charges that he cheated investors and looted customer deposits on his cryptocurrency trading platform as a judge set a tentative trial date for October.
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.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyer, Mark Cohen, announced his client’s plea, saying: “He pleads not guilty to all counts.”
Afterward, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan set a tentative trial date of October 2, saying he might move it forward or backward a day or two.
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 Kaplan. After taking a plea during the arraignment, Kaplan discussed with lawyers a schedule for proceeding toward a trial.
Kaplan decided that motions by the defence and responses to them by prosecutors would be due in April with an argument over the motions taking place on May 18.
