Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly needs Adderall, vegan-friendly food, and proper computer access to focus on his upcoming trial after he pleaded not guilty to multiple charges stemming from the collapse of his cryptocurrency empire.
Attorneys for Bankman-Fried voiced the complaints during a Manhattan federal court hearing on Tuesday, claiming the Metropolitan Detention Center hasn’t given him medication for his ADHD and the jailed man has only survived on water and bread alone — sometimes with peanut butter.
“Your Honor, that’s outrageous and needs to be remedied,” Attorney Mark Cohen told a Manhattan federal judge, according to The Associated Press.
Cohen said his client was “being denied medication to focus” for his upcoming trial on October 3.
Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn reportedly said she would look into accommodating Bankman-Fried’s dietary restrictions and medical needs at the detention center.
“I’m reasonably confident they provide vegetarian options,” Netburn said. “A vegan diet may not be available, but I assume a vegetarian is.”
Attorney Christian Everdell reportedly told the judge, in addition to Bankman-Fried’s living conditions, that his client was also being denied the right “to effectively prepare for his defense” with getting only two days per week to review millions of pages of evidence.
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Bankman-Fried’s FTX digital asset exchange collapsed earlier this year and filed for bankruptcy after users learned that the company was intertwined with sister firm Alameda Research. Both were controlled by Bankman-Fried and other young business leaders working from a luxury penthouse in the Bahamas.
He pleaded not guilty in January to eight charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He was hit with four additional charges the next month, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transfer business.
The fallen crypto prodigy was also accused last week of using over a hundred million stolen dollars to conduct “a wide-ranging political influence operation,” according to a court filing from federal prosecutors.
Bankman-Fried donated nearly $40 million primarily to Democratic nominees and political action committees before the 2022 midterm elections. He was also the second-largest donor to the 2020 Biden presidential campaign and was granted four meetings at the White House with senior advisers in the months before his companies filed for bankruptcy.
The new court filing comes after Bankman-Fried was jailed earlier this month after a judge revoked his bail for allegedly tampering with witnesses on at least two occasions. He had been living with his parents after being placed under house arrest, but prosecutors said that he jeopardized his upcoming trial by leaking writings and love letters from his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison to a New York Times reporter.
Leif Le Mahieu and Zach Jewell contributed to this report.