The bankrupt crypto exchange, FTX’s CEO Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to charges of attempted bribery and campaign finance violations in the latest indictment from U.S. prosecutors.
On Tuesday, prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of offering a bribe to a Chinese government official to unlock funds in accounts related to his company, Alameda Research.
U.S. prosecutors claimed that SBF used over $40 million in cryptocurrency for bribing Chinese officials. This is in addition to the previous indictment, which was revealed last month and included charges of bank fraud and violating campaign finance laws.
Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas last year and extradited to the United States, where he was released on bond. He is scheduled to go to trial this fall.
After bailing him from the recent charges, SBF’s attorney, Mark Cohen said to the court that he is refuting the more recent sets of charges because they came after SBF’s extradition from the Bahamas.
During Thursday’s hearing, federal prosecutors updated the court on their review of seven electronic devices provided by Bankman-Fried. They said the process was taking longer than expected because of the large size of the devices and the amount of information contained within them.
To date, around 6 million pages of documents have been produced. However, Bankman-Fried’s defence is particularly concerned about Laptop B.
“We do have a concern about Laptop B,” said Mark Cohen, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer. “That relates to a cooperating witness who will be an important witness on trial.”
