FTX's Bankman-Fried 'subsisting on bread and water' in jail, lawyer says

By Luc Cohen and Jody Godoy

NEW YORK (Reuters) -FTX cryptocurrency change founder Sam Bankman-Fried is “subsisting on bread and water” as a result of the federal jail the place he’s being held forward of his fraud trial has not offered him with a vegan weight-reduction plan as he requested, his lawyer stated on Tuesday.

Bankman-Fried, 31, pleaded not responsible in Manhattan federal courtroom to seven felony fees contained in a brand new indictment throughout a listening to earlier than U.S. Justice of the Peace Choose Sarah Netburn.

His lawyer, Mark Cohen, instructed Netburn in the course of the listening to {that a} lack of enough meals and medicine offered at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Heart was hampering Bankman-Fried’s skill to organize for his scheduled October trial.

The previous billionaire was led into courtroom sporting leg restraints and a beige-colored uniform for his first look since his bail was revoked on Aug. 11 by U.S. District Choose Lewis Kaplan, who discovered that Bankman-Fried had tampered with witnesses no less than twice.

“Not responsible,” Bankman-Fried instructed Netburn in coming into his plea.

After the listening to, Bankman-Fried spoke to his mom, Stanford Regulation Faculty Professor Barbara Fried, throughout the low partition between the courtroom effectively and the galley.

The brand new indictment, returned on Aug. 14, charged Bankman-Fried with seven counts of fraud and conspiracy over the November 2022 collapse of FTX, which is now in chapter.

Prosecutors accused him of stealing billions of {dollars} in FTX buyer funds to plug losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Analysis. Bankman-Fried has acknowledged insufficient threat administration at FTX, however has denied stealing buyer funds.

The indictment now not fees Bankman-Fried with conspiring to violate U.S. marketing campaign finance legal guidelines. Prosecutors stated the Bahamas, which extradited Bankman-Fried to the USA in December 2022, objected to him being tried on that depend.

Prosecutors with the U.S. Lawyer’s workplace in Manhattan stated they’d however search to indicate that the $100 million Bankman-Fried allegedly donated to U.S. political campaigns and causes was a part of his wider-ranging fraud scheme.

At Tuesday’s listening to, his attorneys stated the jail’s failure to supply him with the treatment Adderall to deal with consideration deficit hyperactive dysfunction – regardless of a courtroom order for the power to take action – and serve him vegan meals would hinder his skill to take part in making ready his protection case.

“As a result of he is following his rules, he’s actually now subsisting on bread and water,” Cohen stated, including that his consumer’s provide of the treatment Emsam to deal with despair was operating low.

Kaplan, who will oversee Bankman-Fried’s trial, on Aug. 14 ordered the jail to supply the defendant with the 2 medication.

Netburn stated in the course of the listening to she would ask the U.S. Justice Division’s Bureau of Prisons, which runs the jail, to deal with the problems with Bankman-Fried’s treatment. Netburn stated she was “fairly assured” the power – lengthy suffering from circumstances public defenders have referred to as “inhumane” – provided vegetarian meals, however was unsure vegan meals was accessible.

In an announcement, the Bureau of Prisons stated MDC inmates had entry to “acceptable” healthcare, medication and sizzling meals. It stated the power “supplies nutritionally enough meals” following the necessities of a nationwide menu that’s “analyzed yearly to make sure all dietary necessities are met.”

Bankman-Fried was jailed after sharing the non-public writings of his former romantic associate and colleague, Caroline Ellison, with a New York Occasions reporter. Ellison, who had been Alameda’s chief govt, is one in every of three former members of his inside circle who’ve pleaded responsible and agreed to testify towards him at trial.