The bankrupt crypto exchange FTX's former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), pleaded not guilty to five additional charges in New York federal court.
The former executive entered the plea through his lawyer, Mark Cohen, at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan overseeing the case.
- The additional charges include bank fraud, money laundering, operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, making unlawful political contributions, and bribery.
- The first round of criminal charges consisted of eight counts, and SBF already pleaded not guilty to all of them.
- The second round came in February and added four new charges to the existing allegations related to the bankruptcy of FTX.
- Earlier in March, federal prosecutors also added a new one to the other 12 charges by accusing SBF of bribing Chinese officials with $40M to unfreeze his accounts containing around $1B of crypto.
- In broad strokes, the charges mainly concern the claims that SBF used customer funds in FTX to compensate for losses at FTX's sister company Alameda Research.
- SBF's lawyers have recently made a new bail agreement, which restricts the former CEO's access to some electronic devices and messaging apps, with U.S. prosecutors.
- FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2022 with all the entities under the roof of FTX Group consisting of around 130 firms, including Alameda Research.
- The bankruptcy trial is scheduled for Oct. 2, and SBF is expected to appear in court.
- SBF also faces civil charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
