During a court appearance on Tuesday, former CEO of crypto exchange Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to money laundering and fraud charges related to the collapse of FTX. He was brought to the Southern District of New York courthouse to face a new indictment in which he was accused of using customer funds for buying personal real estate and political donations, a media report said.
The campaign finance charges figured in the original indictment but were folded into other allegations as they could not bring the charge explicitly because of treaty obligations with the Bahamas.
SBF’s defense team had requested to let him meet access internet-enabled laptops and meet his attorneys at the US Attorney’s office on weekdays. Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is hearing the case, allowed him to meet his attorney at the US Attorney’s office until 3.00 pm EDT Tuesday. But he did not give any ruling on the broader request.
On the other hand, prosecutors have requested the court to order SBF’s defense team to share further about “advice-of-counsel” defense proposals. The judge gave the defense team time till Wednesday to share more information.
The FTX founder’s trial is set to begin in early October. Prosecutors and defense attorneys on Monday filed proposed jury instructions where they detailed how they believe the judge should brief the jurors about the charges and allegations.
