Topline
Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges related to the collapse of his crypto empire, according to reporters present at his arraignment hearing in a New York federal court Tuesday, setting the stage for one of the most high-profile white-collar criminal trials in American history.
Sam Bankman-Fried arrives at a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday.
Key Facts
The disgraced founder of crypto exchange FTX and hedge fund Alameda Research arrived at the courthouse wearing a blue suit and a North Face backpack, accompanied by bodyguards with a swarm of press.
A federal judge granted a request submitted earlier Tuesday by Bankman-Fried’s lawyers to keep the identities of his bond co-signers private, with Bankman-Fried’s legal team citing risks on the “intrusions on [guarantors’]
privacy as well as threats and harassment if their names appear unredacted on their bonds or their identities are otherwise publicly disclosed.”
Prosecutors charged Bankman-Fried with eight criminal counts last month, including commiting wire fraud on customers and lenders and conspiracy to commit money laundering and to break federal campaign finance laws.
Bankman-Fried’s plea follows guilty pleas from his top sidekicks Caroline Ellison, Alameda’s former CEO, and Gary Wang, FTX’s cofounder, on related charges for the alleged scheme to defraud FTX investors and misappropriate customer funds.
Wang vowed to…
