FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried on Tuesday pleaded not guilty to criminal fraud charges in the US over the spectacular collapse of his crypto exchange.
The 30-year-old former digital currency billionaire, who is out on bail, entered pleadings in Manhattan federal court before New York Judge Lewis Kaplan.
FTX and its sister trading house Alameda Research went bankrupt in November, liquidating a virtual trading business that was at one point valued by the market at US$32 billion (about Rs.2.65.3 billion).
The US has filed charges Bankmann-Fried involving conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and election finance violations.
Prosecutors allege he defrauded investors and misappropriated funds belonging to clients of FTX and Alameda Research.
Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to all eight counts against him – five of which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison each.
Judge Kaplan set the tentative date for his trial to begin on October 2.
After its inception in 2019, FTX rose to become a leading player in the cryptocurrency world.
Bankman-Fried made the covers of magazines, attracted huge investments from prominent fund managers and venture capitalists, and was heralded as the future Warren Buffett.
He became one of the Democratic Party’s largest public donors and claimed to have also privately donated an equal amount to the Republican camp.
But his world sensationally collapsed in November when a media report said Alameda’s balance sheet was heavily built on an FTX-created token with no independent value.
It exposed Bankman-Fried’s companies as dangerously intertwined.
He was arrested on December 12 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York at his home in the Bahamas, where FTX is headquartered.
They accuse him of “staging a massive, year-long scam and siphoning billions of dollars of the trading platform’s client funds for his own personal gain and helping to grow his crypto empire.”
He spent nine days in jail on the island nation before being extradited to the United States, where he stood trial in December.
He was released on $250 million bail (approx. He is also under electronic surveillance.
Prosecutors have already secured the guilty pleas of two key figures in the case.
Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang admitted allegations related to FTX’s collapse last month and are cooperating with authorities.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have filed civil lawsuits against Ellison and Wang.
The CFTC estimates that US$8 billion (roughly Rs. 66,300) in funds were misappropriated from FTX client accounts.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has separately charged Bankman-Fried with violating securities laws.
Join us for the latest from the Consumer Electronics Show on Gadgets 360 CES 2023 hub.
