According to a source familiar with the matter, Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to enter a plea of not guilty on Tuesday.
Bankmann-Fried is accused of illegal use FTX Customer deposits in support of his Alameda Research Buying hedge funds, buying real estate and making millions of dollars in political contributions in what prosecutors have described as a fraud of epic proportions.
He is scheduled to appear before US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan at 2:00 p.m. EST (12:30 a.m. Wednesday IST).
A lawyer for Bankman-Fried did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It is not uncommon for defendants to initially plead not guilty. Defendants are free to change their objection at a later date.
Bankman-Fried was released on $250 million (around Rs. 2,070 billion) bail after his extradition last month from the Bahamas, where he lived and where the bourse was based.
Since his release, Bankman-Fried has been under electronic surveillance and forced to live with his parents, both of whom are professors at Stanford Law School in California.
That Massachusetts Institute of Technology The graduate was charged with two counts of wire fraud and six counts of conspiracy, including money laundering and campaign finance violations. If convicted, he faces up to 115 years in prison.
Bankman-Fried has admitted to making mistakes running FTX but said he doesn’t believe he faces criminal liability.
The 30-year-old crypto mogul experienced a boom in value Bitcoin and other digital assets to multi-billionaire and influential political donor in the US until FTX collapsed after a wave of withdrawals in early November. The exchange filed for bankruptcy on November 11.
Bankman-Fried’s net worth, once estimated at US$26 billion (about Rs.2,15,470), was largely wiped out when the stock market collapsed. He later said he had $100,000 (about 82 lakh) in his bank account.
The prosecution’s case was bolstered by the guilty pleas last month from two of Bankman-Fried’s closest associates.
Caroline Ellison, Alameda’s chief executive, and Gary Wang, former FTX chief technology officer, pleaded guilty to seven and four counts, respectively, and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Bankman-Fried, Ellison and Wang were also sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Ellison and Wang have settled those civil matters, regulators said.
FTX’s new chief executive, John Ray, known for his work on energy company Enron’s bankruptcy, said FTX was run by “grossly inexperienced” and undemanding people.
© Thomson Reuters 2023
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