Disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is scheduled to appear before US district judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan this afternoon, where he is expected to enter a not-guilty plea on charges of criminal fraud.
Known as SBF, the founder and former head of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX faces life behind bars if found guilty of illegally using billions in FTX users’ funds to make risky bets through his Alameda Research hedge fund.
He is accused of siphoning off funds via a ‘back door’ mechanism between FTX and Alameda which ended up creating a US$8bn black hole in missing funds.
FTX’s former head engineer Gary Wang has pleaded guilty to associated charges, as has former Alameda Research chief executive and SBF’s once-time girlfriend Caroline Ellison.
Both former associates are expected to testify against Bankman-Fried in a plea deal.
In addition to defrauding investors and stealing FTX customers’ money, New York attorney Damian Williams has accused Bankman-Fried of making “tens of millions of dollars” of illegal political donations to Democrats and Republicans alike using stolen customer funds.
Williams called SBF’s former crypto empire “one of biggest financial frauds in US history”.
Despite apparently losing his entire fortune – he was once the richest man under 30 – Bankman-Friend is on bail for US$250mln. He remains under electronic monitoring at his parents’ California residence.
SBF has consistently denied criminal liability, instead suggesting that losses were due to mismanagement and general incompetence.