Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, pleaded not guilty to all the eight charges brought by federal prosecutors, media reports said. Appearing through his lawyers before the US District Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York, SBF moved an application, requesting that the names of the two co-signers of his $250 million bail be sealed to prevent disclosure. His lawyers argued that the disclosure of the co-signer’s names could compromise the safety and privacy of the co-signers could be Judge Kaplan granted his request.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California filed the charges against Bankman-Fried last month. The indictment alleges that Bankman-Fried and his associates engaged in a “scheme” to defraud investors by using “deceptive and manipulative trading practices” between April 2017 and August 2020. The indictment further accuses Bankman-Fried and his team of using their control over the FTX platform to “artificially manipulate the price of cryptocurrencies” to “unjustly enrich themselves.”
Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is represented by attorneys from Wiley Rein LLP who have issued a statement saying he is innocent. He is currently out on bail and is due back in court on May 12, and if convicted he could face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
The case has attracted widespread attention in the cryptocurrency industry, with many industry leaders and investors expressing their support for Bankman-Fried. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong tweeted his support for Bankman-Fried, saying, “I’m glad to see Sam Bankman-Fried plead not guilty on all charges. We need more people like him in the space, and I hope he gets the justice he deserves in this case.”
