Due to a lack of sufficient nourishment in prison, Sam Bankman-Fried is unable to adequately prepare for his fraud trial.
The assertion was made as Mr. Bankman-Fried entered a not guilty plea to seven criminal counts in a brand-new indictment.
He lost his bail two weeks ago.
When the case was first heard, the court stated: «There is probable cause to believe that the defendant has attempted to tamper with witnesses at least twice.»
The former billionaire’s attorney, Mark Cohen, said that his client’s ability to prepare for his trial, which is set to begin in October, was being hampered by a lack of proper meals in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.
According to his attorney, Mr. Bankman-Fried was «surviving on bread and water.»
Mr. Cohen further claimed that Mr. Bankman-Fried was running out of the antidepressant Emsam and had not received the Adderall medicine for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
FTX was previously the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world and was worth $32 billion (£25 billion).
On November 11, it filed for bankruptcy protection, shocking the cryptocurrency market.
