Sam Bankman-Fried Pleads Not Guilty to Bribery And Fraud Charges

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX, pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted bribery and campaign finance violations during a court appearance on Thursday.

The charges were revealed in two recent superseding indictments, with the bribery charge being unveiled on Tuesday. The indictment alleged Bankman-Fried attempted to bribe a Chinese government official with more than $40 million in crypto to unlock funds in accounts tied to Alameda Research, another of his companies.

Bankman-Fried's attorney Mark Cohen, stated that while his client pleaded not guilty, he did not acknowledge the more recent charges.

"My client is not acknowledging he can be tried," Coindesk quoted Cohen as saying.

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Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas last year and extradited to the U.S., where he was released on bond. He is scheduled to go to trial this fall.

The bribery charge came on top of a superseding indictment unveiled last month that included bank fraud charges and detailed campaign finance allegations.

The trial against Bankman-Fried is expected to be a significant event, as he is one of the most high-profile executives in the cryptocurrency industry.

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