On this courtroom sketch, FTX cryptocurrency trade founder Sam Bankman-Fried, carrying jail clothes, stands between his attorneys Mark Cohen and Christian Everdell in Manhattan federal court docket the place he plead responsible to seven prison fees in a brand new indictment throughout a listening to earlier than U.S. Justice of the Peace Choose Sarah Netburn in New York Metropolis, Aug. 22, 2023.
Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
In a listening to in New York on Tuesday, legal professionals for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried expressed issues over their shopper’s dwelling situations at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Middle, the place he is being housed for alleged witness tampering.
Bankman-Fried’s authorized crew informed a federal choose that the previous crypto billionaire was “subsisting on bread and water” and “typically peanut butter,” as a result of the jail cannot accommodate his vegan food regimen. They mentioned he had solely been supplied the usual “flesh meals.”
Mark Cohen, an lawyer on the case, added that Bankman-Fried had not acquired any doses of his prescribed treatment Adderall, a remedy for attention-deficit/hyperactivity dysfunction, since being remanded to custody 11 days in the past. Cohen mentioned his shopper solely had a “restricted” and “dwindling” provide of Emsam, a transdermal patch for treating despair. U.S. District Choose Lewis Kaplan, who’s presiding over the prison trial, had informed a jail to offer these prescribed drugs to Bankman-Fried.
The listening to on Tuesday marked Bankman-Fried’s first time in court docket since he was despatched to MDC earlier this month. He is because of be held there till his prison trial begins in October. Bankman-Fried, donning a beige, jail-issued uniform and ankle shackles, pleaded not responsible to seven fees, together with fraud and conspiracy, in a brand new superseding indictment. He beforehand pleaded not responsible to extra indictments associated to the collapse of his crypto empire.
An earlier request from Bankman-Fried’s legal professionals included 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 Main Depressive Dysfunction and Consideration Deficit Hyperactivity Dysfunction,” Lerner wrote.
With out his treatment, Lerner warned, “Bankman-Fried will expertise a return of his despair and ADHD signs and will likely be severely negatively impacted in his capability to help in his personal protection.”
Justice of the Peace Choose Sarah Netburn mentioned she would look into these points instantly and purpose to have an answer by the top of the day.
Christian Everdell, one other lawyer on Bankman-Fried’s authorized crew, informed Netburn there are “severe Sixth Modification points” involving Bankman-Fried not having the ability to put together and take part in his protection with solely six weeks till trial.
Bankman-Fried has up to now been unable to realize entry to the web and a laptop computer. His legal professionals have argued that with their shopper in jail, he won’t be able to correctly put together for his trial as a result of mountainous quantities of discovery paperwork solely accessible through a pc related to the web.
Choose Netburn mentioned the protection must make trial preparation requests via Choose Kaplan.
On Monday, Choose Kaplan granted Bankman-Fried and his attorneys permission to work out of the courthouse at 500 Pearl Avenue in Manhattan, New York, instantly following Tuesday’s arraignment. Choose Netburn mentioned she would tackle issues over Bankman-Fried’s dwelling situations immediately with the U.S. Justice Division’s Bureau of Prisons, which runs the jail.
Bankman-Fried had his bail revoked over his choice to leak personal diary entries by his ex-girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, to The New York Instances. In lots of her private writings, Ellison expressed self-doubt and emotions of stress in her function as the previous head of Bankman-Fried’s failed crypto hedge fund, Alameda Analysis.
WATCH: Sam Bankman-Fried despatched to jail over witness tampering