Lewis Kaplan News

NEW YORK — FTX Trading Ltd. founder Sam Bankman-Fried can’t adequately prepare for trial in six weeks while in jail without proper access to computers, necessary medications to help him concentrate and a better diet than bread, water and peanut butter, his lawyers told a magistrate judge Aug. 22.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has entered a not guilty plea in Manhattan federal court in response to a new indictment that alleges charges of fraud and conspiracy. 

By Luc Cohen

Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is due back in court on Tuesday for the first time since a US judge revoked his bail and sent him to jail, and is expected to plead not guilty to a new indictment alleging fraud and conspiracy charges. The 31-year-old former billionaire has been behind bars since Aug. 11, when US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan revoked his bail for allegedly tampering with witnesses at least twice.

United States prosecutors have put forward their proposed instructions to the jury ahead of the October trial for FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried is seeking temporary release from jail in order to work on his defense with his lawyers at the federal courthouse in Manhattan. 

Seven days following the Department of Justice's bail revocation for disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, he is now seeking permission to spend five weekdays outside to collaborate with his legal team on his defense case.

By Jonathan Stempel

FTX cryptocurrency exchange to make more than $100 million in political campaign contributions before the 2022 U.S. midterm elections, federal prosecutors said on Monday. An amended indictment accused the 31-year-old former billionaire of directing two FTX executives to evade contribution limits by donating to Democrats and Republicans, and to conceal where the money came from.

The FTX affair continues to unravel. Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the failed crypto exchange, will be held in jail through the end of his two upcoming trials. Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the revocation of the entrepreneur’s $250 million bail following The New York Times report about his alleged attempt to intimidate witnesses. Bankman-Fried faces 12 criminal charges spread across two trials scheduled to begin in October 2023 and March 2024.

By Luc Cohen

The legal team defending Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) against criminal charges has requested a federal judge allow the former FTX CEO to have access to antidepressants while in jail.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the indicted founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, needs access to medications to treat depression and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) while jailed ahead of his fraud trial, his lawyers said on Monday. In a letter, Bankman-Fried's lawyers asked US District Judge Lewis Kaplan to order the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn to ensure their client has a daily Emsam skin patch for depression and three or four doses a day of Adderall for ADHD.

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is going into his third night with over 1,500 other inmates in one of New York's most notorious prisons — a far cry from his parent's multi-million dollar five-bedroom home in Stanford.

Judge Lewis Kaplan has granted a request by federal prosecutors to revoke Bankman-Fried's bail and he will be remanded to custody ahead of his trial, which is slated to begin on 2 October.The judge concluded that there was probable cause to believe that Bankman-Fried has tried to “tamper with witnesses at least twice” since his arrest in December in connection with the collapse of FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange he founded.Prosecutors asked the judge to revoke bail after Bankman-Fried shared private diary entries of his ex-girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, to the New York Times. Ellison, the former chief executive of Bankman-Fried's crypto hedge fund Alameda Research, pleaded guilty to federal charges in December and is cooperating with the prosecution and is expected to testify against her former boyfriend.

cryptocurrency exchange tampered with witnesses at least twice. USA District Judge Lewis Kaplan announced the decision at a hearing in federal court in Manhattan, less than two months before the scheduled October fraud trial. He rejected a defense request to delay Bankman-Fried's detention pending appeal of the bail revocation. The decision could complicate Bankman-Fried's efforts to prepare for trial, where the 31-year-old former billionaire faces charges of having stolen billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to plug losses at his Alameda Research hedge fund. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty.

By Luc Cohen

The United States Attorneys’ offices has announced another superseding indictment against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) which will include considering an allegedly illegal campaign finance scheme.

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Monday dismissed Donald Trump's defamation counterclaim against the writer E. Jean Carroll, who won a $5 million jury verdict for defamation and sexual assault against the former president in May.

The New York Times has submitted a filing in the criminal case against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), arguing the court should defend First Amendment rights by allowing certain parties to provide information to members of the media.

Lawyers for Sam Bankman-Fried have denied that he attempted to intimidate witnesses in his criminal trial by talking to New York Times reporters and argued there is no reason to jail him.