FTX CEO SBF faces 115 years in prison but pleads not guilty – What higher power protects him?

• SBF pleads not guilty to all criminal charges during the Jan. 3 hearing. 
• The court has scheduled his trial to begin on Oct. 2 even as prosecutors insist that he is guilty of epic fraud. 

The criminal trial of executives of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX continues in the U.S. In the latest turn of events FTX former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to all charges leveled against him.

According to a Reuters report, the former CEO entered the plea during the Jan. 3 hearing in Manhattan federal court. The 30-year-old, popularly known by his initials SBF, is facing eight charges including wire fraud, securities fraud, and violations of campaign finance laws. If convicted, he could face up to 115 years imprisonment.

During the hearing, prosecutors reiterated that SBF cheated FTX investors and users in what they call an ‘epic’ fraud. He is accused of looting FTX customers’ deposits to support his Alameda Research hedge fund.

Customer funds were also used and laundered through political donations, charitable donations and a variety of venture investments,

Danielle Sassoon, a federal prosecutor, said at the hearing.

Sassoon hinted that the government has amassed hundreds of thousands of evidence documents against SBF. The prosecutors intend to turn over the documents close to the trial date which has been set for Oct. 2, 2023. According to Sassoon, the trial could last up to four weeks.

Additionally, Sassoon accused SBF of recently carrying out transfers of Alameda-related crypto assets. In response, Mark Cohen, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer, said his client did not carry out the Alameda transfers.

However, the accusation prompted the U.S. District Judge, Lewis Kaplan, to impose a new bail condition on SBF. Judge Kaplan stated that SBF cannot access FTX or Alameda assets while on bail.

Can SBF beat the criminal charges?

His Dec. 22 release on a $250 million bond already stipulates that he will be subject to electronic monitoring. He is also required to live with his parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, who are both professors at Stanford Law School in California.

Meanwhile, in the latest court filings attorneys asked to keep the identities of the other backers of SBF’s bail bond secret. The court granted the request noting that his parents have been facing harassment that could be transferred to the other backers.

Despite his pleading not guilty to the criminal charges, the net still seems to be closing in on the MIT graduate. Prosecutors have already secured guilty pleas from FTX co-founder and former CEO Gary Wang, as well as former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison.

The two executives agreed to responsibility for the fraud-related charges and have agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. This means that they could also likely testify during the trial. Similarly, the current CEO and Chief Restructuring Officer of FTX John Ray has revealed that the exchange extensively commingled user funds with Alameda’s assets.