FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to fraud and money laundering

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges, following his arrest in the Bahamas last month after the collapse of his cryptocurrency empire.

Bankman-Fried, 30, was charged with a variety of fraud and money laundering cases, while his business partners Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang have pleaded guilty to the charges against them.

Prosecutors have accused the cryptocurrency trader of sending billions in customer's money to Alameda Research, another company that was part of his empire.

The judge set a trial arraigned in federal court in Manhattan, New York, today (Tuesday 3 January), where his attorney Mark Cohen entered the plea of not guilty to all counts.

The judge set the date of his trial for 2 October.

Bankman-Fried, meanwhile, was once one of the richest people in the world on paper, but last month he claimed he only had a comparatively measly $100,000 (£82,440) to his name.

He said took responsibility for FTX's collapse and explained that he failed to grasp the amount of risk FTX and his other company Alameda Research were taking on across both businesses.

At the time of his arrest, Ryan Pinder, The Bahamas Attorney General, said: "As a result of the notification received and the material provided therewith, it was deemed appropriate for the Attorney General to seek SBF’s arrest and hold him in custody pursuant to our nation’s Extradition Act.

"At such time as a formal request for extradition is made, The Bahamas intends to process it promptly, pursuant to Bahamian law and its treaty obligations with the United States."

The Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis added in a statement following Bankman-Fried's arrest: “The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law.

"While the United States is pursuing criminal charges against SBF individually, The Bahamas will continue its own regulatory and criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX, with the continued cooperation of its law enforcement and regulatory partners in the United States and elsewhere.”