The fallen founder of FTX pleaded not guilty to the multiple charges he was facing including wire fraud. Bankman-Fried posted a $250 million bond for bail two weeks ago and made an appearance in a Manhattan court this Tuesday claiming he was innocent.
Events at the Court Hearing
If things don't go the FTX founder's way, he may receive heavy consequences brought by the charges against him. He is battling a criminal indictment from the Justice Department on top of the civil suit from the Securities Exchange Commission.
Bankman-Fried is facing eight criminal charges including multiple counts of wire fraud, according to Engadget. Among his accusations was an attempt to commit commodities fraud, donating more than legally allowed regarding the election and a multiyear scheme for fraud.
Bankman-Fried's plea of not guilty was brought forth by Mark Cohen, the former CEO's lawyer. SBF did not speak for the duration of his hearing. His decision to deny the charges could lead to a trial, for which a tentative date has already been set by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan on October 2nd.
The hearing also led to prosecutors requesting a new bail condition which basically ties the hands of Sam Bankman-Fried. Since the new condition has been granted by the court, he will not be allowed to transfer funds that are controlled by FTX or Alameda Research.
The new bail condition was prompted by claims that SBF was still able to handle digital assets from the accounts controlled by Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried, who still has access to his Twitter account, denied the accusations.
US Attorney Danielle Sassoon claimed that prosecutors failed to provide evidence that SBF did transfer the assets himself, but they still did not trust his statements via Twitter considering he has made false statements before, as mentioned in The New York Times.
The FTX founder's lawyers requested that the identity of the other two people who signed SBF's bonds remain undisclosed. This was brought on by the threats that SBF's parents, Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried are facing.
According to Bankman-Fried's lawyers, his parents have received messages that expressed the desire to harm them physically. Although the request was granted, it was still possible for the Judge to revise it if there was opposition to sealing the information.
What's in Store for the Disgraced Founder
Bankman-Fried and his legal team may have a hard time fighting the charges of prosecutors. Attorney Sassoon stated that the government had acquired hundreds of thousands of documents from banks, employees, political campaigns, ISPs, and the new FTX head.
Reports say that SBF has been more careful than ever. Compared to how active he was on Twitter before, he has only published two tweets in the last three weeks, wherein he denied being the one who moved the funds from Alameda's wallet.
None of these are me. I'm not and couldn't be moving any of those funds; I don't have access to them anymore.https://t.co/5Gkin30Ny5
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) December 30, 2022
Tiffany Fong, a content creator on YouTube about cryptocurrency, also mentioned that Bankman-Fried was cautious with his answers in their recent interview so he wouldn't upset his lawyers. Fong added that SBF wasn't as trepidatious in their past meetings.
If Sam Bankman-Fried is found guilty, he may be facing more than a decade behind bars. Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes also faced fraud charges and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. In comparison, SBF is accused of defrauding twice the amount that Holmes did.
