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FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty on Thursday to new U.S. charges of conspiring to violate campaign finance laws and bribe Chinese authorities.
In front of U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in federal court in Manhattan, Bankman-Fried, 31, pleaded guilty to the additional 13-count indictment through his attorney, Mark Cohen.
In response to allegations that he stole billions in FTX client cash to cover losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to eight counts of fraud and conspiracy.
Because the new accusations were made after Bankman-Fried was extradited from the Bahamas, where he was detained in December and where FTX was based, Cohen said he intended to contest them.
The additional allegations increase the pressure on Bankman-Fried, who could be sentenced to decades in jail if found guilty in a trial beginning on October 2.
Bankman-Fried was arrested after the now-bankrupt FTX collapsed due to a wave of customer withdrawals sparked by worries about mixing monies between the exchange and Alameda.
The Manhattan office of the U.S. Attorney’s initial indictment provided little specifics regarding the alleged plan. The former millionaire acknowledged poor risk management at FTX in an odd essay on his blog following his arrest but said he did not steal money.
In a fresh 12-count indictment released by prosecutors in late February, they expanded on the fraud allegations. They accused Bankman-Fried of making unauthorized contributions totaling tens of millions of dollars to American political campaigns using phoney donors to gain influence in Washington.
However, on Tuesday, prosecutors filed to unseal yet another indictment that charged Bankman-Fried with conspiring to break anti-bribery legislation by arranging a $40 million payment to Chinese authorities to regain access to $1 billion in cryptocurrencies that had been frozen in Alameda accounts. This accusation was included in the indictment that had previously been sealed.
Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, former FTX technology head Zixao “Gary” Wang, and former FTX engineering director Nishad Singh are the three former members of Bankman-inner Fried’s circle who have all pled guilty and promised to assist with investigators.
Bankman-Fried is being held on a $250 million bond pending trial in the Palo Alto, California, residence of his parents. Bankman-bail Fried’s conditions were modified earlier this week with Kaplan’s approval to stop the defendant from influencing witnesses.
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