Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers complain FTX founder not getting vegan diet in jail
Attorneys for former the crypto titan complain of vegan's jail conditions
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Attorneys for incarcerated FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried complained of his jail conditions to a federal judge on Tuesday, saying their vegan client has been surviving largely on only bread and water since his bail was revoked earlier this month.
Bankman-Fried appeared before Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn and pleaded not guilty during his arraignment on the latest superseding indictment accusing him of fraud and other charges related to the collapse of his crypto empire.
The former CEO's lawyers both raised concerns at the hearing over the conditions at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where Bankman-Fried is being held while he awaits trial in October.
Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of FTX, arrives at court in New York, on June 15, 2023. Bankman-Fried faces an array of federal charges related to the crypto exchange's collapse, and faces more than 155 years in prison if convicted of all of them - alt (Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Defense attorney Marc Cohen told the judge that his client follows a vegan diet and that all he has been offered in prison are "flesh" meals, so in order to follow his principles, Bankman-Fried has been "subsisting on bread and water" and "sometimes peanut butter."
Netburn promised to look into the matter with the Bureau of Prisons, and said the defendant may be provided at least one vegetarian option.
Cohen also informed the judge that Bankman-Fried takes two medications, Adderall and Emsam. The lawyer said the first helps Bankman-Fried focus and has not been provided to him in jail, and that he has a "limited supply" of the latter.
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Bankman-Fried's other attorney, Christian Everdell, also said there are "serious 6th Amendment rights" issues in regard to the access his client has to discovery and his ability to prepare for trial.
Everdell said Bankman-Fried has not had access to discovery because it is so voluminous that it can only be accessed online, and therefore his client needs a computer with internet, which is not possible at the MDC.
A sketch of Sam Bankman-Fried sitting in Manhattan federal court, backed by his defense team on June 15, 2023. (Christine Cornell / Fox News)
The lawyers requested to set up a "war room" at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York court in which to meet with their client five days a week to prepare for trial. However, that decision was not being decided by the magistrate, and will be up to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who revoked Bankman-Fried's bail and had him reincarcerated.
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Bankman-Fried, who founded and controlled the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and the quantitative cryptocurrency trading firm Alameda Research, is accused by federal prosecutors of misappropriating and embezzling FTX customer deposits and using billions of dollars in stolen funds for a variety of purposes, including, among other things, to enrich himself, support the operations of FTX, and fund speculative venture investments.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges brought against him.
FOX Business' Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.