Lawyers for the controversial cryptocurrency trader Sam Bankman-Fried have said he is subsisting on bread, water and peanut butter ahead of his fraud trial because the jail he is being held in has not provided vegan meals.
Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX cryptocurrency exchange, was extradited from the Bahamas in December after prosecutors said he stole billions of dollars in customer deposits, spending tens of millions on his businesses, speculative venture investments, charitable donations, and on illegal campaign contributions aimed at influencing cryptocurrency regulation in Washington.
He pleaded not guilty to seven criminal charges of fraud and conspiracy contained in a new indictment on Tuesday.
His lawyer told the hearing that the 31-year-old has not received adequate food and medication at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre and this is hampering preparation for his trial that is scheduled to begin in October.
The former billionaire’s lawyers said the jail has also not provided him with the medication Adderall to treat attention deficit hyperactive disorder – despite a court order for the facility to do so.
“Because he’s following his principles, he is literally now subsisting on bread and water,” lawyer Mark Cohen said, adding that his client’s supply of the medication Emsam to treat depression was running low.
US district judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the jail to provide the defendant with the two drugs while magistrate judge Sarah Netburn said she would ask the US Justice Department’s Bureau of Prisons, which runs the jail, to address the issues with Bankman-Fried’s medication.
Ms Netburn said she was “reasonably confident” the facility – long plagued by conditions public defenders called “inhumane” – offered vegetarian food, but was not sure vegan food was available.
The Bureau of Prisons said inmates had access to “appropriate” healthcare, medicine and hot meals. It said the facility “provides nutritionally adequate meals”…
