Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to several new charges

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Founder of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTXpleads not guilty to several charges, including bribing Chinese authorities and conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws.

Sam Bankman-Fried has not previouslypleaded guilty to eight charges of fraud. He is awaiting trial in New York in October. With the addition of charges of violating campaign finance laws and bribery of Chinese government officials, Bankman-Freed now faces 13 counts.

Along with allegations of fraud, prosecutorsThe United States accused Bankman-Fried in February of making illegal political donations. Bankman-Fried is accused of attempting to bribe one or more Chinese government officials with about $40 million worth of cryptocurrencies. Through the bribery, he attempted to unfreeze certain Alameda Research accounts.

Bankman-Fried's attorney, Mark Cohen, said he plans to contest the new allegations as they come after the extradition of the FTX founder from the Bahamas.

Bankman-Fried was arrested in December 2022.He was later released on $250 million bail. As part of the terms of his bail, he was provided with a phone without Internet access and a laptop that can only access approved websites.

Although Bankman-Fried deniesprosecution charges, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang pleaded guilty to fraud. In February, FTX CTO Nishad Singh also pleaded guilty to money laundering through political campaign financing.