On this court cartoon, FTX cryptocurrency trade founder Sam Bankman-Fried, dressed in jail clothes, stands between his lawyers Mark Cohen and Christian Everdell in Long island federal court docket the place he plead in charge to seven prison fees in a brand new indictment right through a listening to prior to U.S. Justice of the Peace Pass judgement on Sarah Netburn in New York Town, Aug. 22, 2023.
Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
In a listening to in New York on Tuesday, legal professionals for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried expressed considerations over their consumer’s residing prerequisites at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Heart, the place he is being housed for alleged witness tampering.
Bankman-Fried’s criminal group informed a federal pass judgement on that the previous crypto billionaire was once “subsisting on bread and water” and “on occasion peanut butter,” since the prison cannot accommodate his vegan nutrition. They mentioned he had best been presented the usual “flesh foods.”
Mark Cohen, an lawyer at the case, added that Bankman-Fried had now not won any doses of his prescribed drugs Adderall, a remedy for attention-deficit/hyperactivity dysfunction, since being remanded to custody 11 days in the past. Cohen mentioned his consumer best had a “restricted” and “dwindling” provide of Emsam, a transdermal patch for treating melancholy. U.S. District Pass judgement on Lewis Kaplan, who’s presiding over the prison trial, had informed a prison to offer those prescribed medicines to Bankman-Fried.
The listening to on Tuesday marked Bankman-Fried’s first time in court docket since he was once despatched to MDC previous this month. He’s because of be held there till his prison trial starts in October. Bankman-Fried, donning a beige, jail-issued uniform and ankle shackles, pleaded now not in charge to seven fees, together with fraud and conspiracy, in a brand new superseding indictment. He prior to now pleaded now not in charge to extra indictments associated with the cave in of his crypto empire.
An previous request from Bankman-Fried’s legal professionals integrated a letter from his psychiatrist, George Lerner, who has been treating the previous FTX CEO since February 2019.
“Mr. Bankman-Fried has a historical past of Primary Depressive Dysfunction and Consideration Deficit Hyperactivity Dysfunction,” Lerner wrote.
With out his drugs, Lerner warned, “Bankman-Fried will revel in a go back of his melancholy and ADHD signs and might be critically negatively impacted in his skill to lend a hand in his personal protection.”
Justice of the Peace Pass judgement on Sarah Netburn mentioned she would glance into those problems straight away and intention to have an answer by means of the tip of the day.
Christian Everdell, any other lawyer on Bankman-Fried’s criminal group, informed Netburn there are “critical 6th Modification problems” involving Bankman-Fried now not having the ability to get ready and take part in his protection with best six weeks till trial.
Bankman-Fried has to this point been not able to realize get right of entry to to the web and a computer. His legal professionals have argued that with their consumer in prison, he won’t be able to correctly get ready for his trial because of the mountainous quantities of discovery paperwork best available by way of a pc hooked up to the web.
Pass judgement on Netburn mentioned the protection must make trial preparation requests via Pass judgement on Kaplan.
On Monday, Pass judgement on Kaplan granted Bankman-Fried and his lawyers permission to determine of the courthouse at 500 Pearl Boulevard in Long island, New York, straight away following Tuesday’s arraignment. Pass judgement on Netburn mentioned she would cope with considerations over Bankman-Fried’s residing prerequisites without delay with the U.S. Justice Division’s Bureau of Prisons, which runs the prison.
Bankman-Fried had his bail revoked over his determination to leak non-public diary entries by means of his ex-girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, to The New York Occasions. In lots of her private writings, Ellison expressed self-doubt and emotions of rigidity in her function as the previous head of Bankman-Fried’s failed crypto hedge fund, Alameda Analysis.
WATCH: Sam Bankman-Fried despatched to prison over witness tampering