By Luc Cohen and Jody Godoy
NEW YORK (Reuters) -FTX cryptocurrency alternate 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 supplied him with a vegan weight-reduction plan as he requested, his lawyer mentioned on Tuesday.
Bankman-Fried, 31, pleaded not responsible in Manhattan federal courtroom to seven legal expenses 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, informed Netburn throughout the listening to {that a} lack of sufficient meals and medicine supplied at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Heart was hampering Bankman-Fried’s means 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was led into courtroom sporting leg restraints and a beige-colored uniform for his first look since his bail was revoked on Aug. 11 by U.S. District Choose Lewis Kaplan, who discovered that Bankman-Fried had tampered with witnesses at the very least twice.
“Not responsible,” Bankman-Fried informed Netburn in getting into his plea.
After the listening to, Bankman-Fried spoke to his mom, Stanford Legislation College 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 danger administration at FTX, however has denied stealing buyer funds.
The indictment now not expenses Bankman-Fried with conspiring to violate U.S. marketing campaign finance legal guidelines. Prosecutors mentioned the Bahamas, which extradited Bankman-Fried to the US in December 2022, objected to him being tried on that depend.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Lawyer’s workplace in Manhattan mentioned they might nonetheless search to point out 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 legal professionals mentioned 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 means to take part in making ready his protection case.
“As a result of he is following his ideas, he’s actually now subsisting on bread and water,” Cohen mentioned, including that his consumer’s provide of the treatment Emsam to deal with melancholy was working low.
Kaplan, who will oversee Bankman-Fried’s trial, on Aug. 14 ordered the jail to supply the defendant with the 2 medicine.
Netburn mentioned throughout 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 mentioned she was “moderately assured” the power – lengthy suffering from circumstances public defenders have referred to as “inhumane” – provided vegetarian meals, however was undecided vegan meals was accessible.
In an announcement, the Bureau of Prisons mentioned MDC inmates had entry to “applicable” healthcare, medication and sizzling meals. It mentioned the power “supplies nutritionally sufficient 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 private writings of his former romantic accomplice and colleague, Caroline Ellison, with a New York Instances reporter. Ellison, who had been Alameda’s chief govt, is one in all three former members of his inside circle who’ve pleaded responsible and agreed to testify in opposition to him at trial.
