No vegan food, only bread: ‘The King of Crypto’ Sam Bankman-Fried’s prison life | World News
Once hailed as ‘The King of Crypto’ FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is living on bread and water in prison, the former billionaire’s lawyer, Mark Cohen has said. Cohen has highlighted that due to the unavailability of vegan food in the prison, Bankman-Fried is not getting adequate meals. As a result, Bankman-Fried is struggling to prepare for his trial, which is scheduled to start in October.
In new indictment, Bankman-Fried is facing seven criminal charges. His lawyer, Cohen has made the claims about food and medication, before Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn.
Bankman-Fried was “subsisting on bread and water”, said Cohen.
Cohen also complained that in the prison, Bankman-Fried had not been provided with the attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) drug Adderall. The lawyer alleged that Bankman-Fried is taking medication for treatment of depression and the supply of it, was running low.
After the issues were raised, Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn assured that she would ask the US Justice Department’s Bureau of Prisons, which runs the jail where Bankman-Fried is imprisoned, to resolve the problem.
Judge Netburn added that she was reasonably confident that vegetarian food was being offered at the prison, but was not sure whether vegan food was available.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Prisons assured that prisoners were being given “appropriate” healthcare, medicine and hot meals.
On Tuesday, during the court hearing in New York, Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to seven criminal charges contained in new indictment.
Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange FTX has collapsed. FTX was once the world’s second largest cryptocurrency exchange and had a valuation of $32bn (£25bn).
