Sam Bankman Fried to Enter Plea Next Week

Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK – Sam Bankman Fried is expected to plead guilty to criminal charges that he defrauded investors. He also stole billions of dollars from customers at his failed FTX cryptocurrency trade.

Court records from Wednesday indicated that the 30-year old will be presented before U.S. Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan federal courts on Jan. 3, 2023.

Kaplan was assigned to this case on Tuesday after the original Judge recused herself. Her husband’s law firm had advised FTX just before it collapsed.

Prosecutors accuse Bankman-Fried, of engaging in years-long criminal activities “fraud of epic proportions,” Using customer deposits to help his Alameda Research hedge funds firm, buy real property and make political contributions.

Bankman-Fried faces two counts of wire fraud as well as six counts of conspiracy to launder money or commit campaign finance violations. If convicted, he could spend many decades in prison.

Bankman-Fried confessed to FTX’s risk-management shortcomings, but did not believe he was criminally liable.

He and two of his associates, Caroline Ellison, former chief executive officer at Alameda, and Gary Wang (former chief technology officer at FTX), pleaded guilty to their roles as part in the collapse and have agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Bankman-Fried’s lawyer did not respond immediately to our requests for comment.

Bankman-Fried was released Dec. 22 under a $250 million bond. He was ordered to remain with his parents in Palo Alto (California), where they teach at Stanford Law School. He is currently under electronic surveillance.

FTX filed for bankruptcy relief on November 11. John Ray, the new chief executive of FTX, stated to Congress that the exchange had lost $8 billion in customer money during its run by a new chief executive. “grossly inexperienced, non-sophisticated individuals.”

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel, New York; Editing By Matthew Lewis).

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