Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to criminal charges that he cheated investors in his now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
Bankman-Fried is accused of looting billions of dollars in FTX customer deposits to support his Alameda Research hedge fund, buy real estate and make millions of dollars in political contributions, in what prosecutors have called a fraud of epic proportions.
The 30-year-old defendant entered his plea through his lawyer to eight criminal counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan federal court.
It is common for criminal defendants to initially plead not guilty. They may change their pleas later.
Bankman-Fried could face up to 115 years in prison if convicted.
Federal prosecutor Danielle Sassoon told the judge that prosecutors and defence lawyers have discussed a possible September or October trial date. She said a trial could last four weeks.
Bankman-Fried, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate, rode a boom in the value of bitcoin and other digital assets to build a net worth of an estimated $26 billion US and become an influential political donor in the United States.
But FTX collapsed in early November after a wave of withdrawals and declared bankruptcy on Nov. 11, wiping out Bankman-Fried’s fortune. He later said he had $100,000 in his bank account.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will be released on a $250 million US bond package while he awaits trial on fraud charges related to the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange, a federal magistrate judge said on Thursday.
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