Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to enter 'not guilty' plea

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, is reportedly set to enter a plea of 'not guilty' when he appears before the court on January 3.

Bankman-Fried, charged by the US Attorney for the Southern District with eight counts including securities fraud and money laundering, is set to appear before US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan, New York.

Bankman-Fried was released on a $250 million bond, "the largest-ever pretrial bond", in December amid his trial for committing fraud and other criminal charges.

As part of the bond agreement, Bankman-Fried will wear an "electronic monitoring bracelet" and submit to "mental health counselling" amid restrictions on travelling out of the city.

Meanwhile, the government in The Bahamas has seized $3.5 billion in FTX digital assets.

The country's Securities Commission took control of the assets soon after the crypto exchange filed for bankruptcy in the US in November, reports revealed.

The Securities Commission of The Bahamas said in a statement that it took the action of directing the transfer of all digital assets of under the custody or control of FTXDM (FTX Digital Markets Ltd) or its principals, valued at more than $3.5 billion, based on market pricing at the time of transfer, to digital wallets controlled by the Commission, for safekeeping.

"While certain token protocols may require the burning of old tokens and the simultaneous minting of new replacement tokens to effect transfer, in no case, did the process involve the creation of any additional tokens," it added.

The regulator "determined that there was a significant risk of imminent dissipation as to the digital assets under the custody or control of FTXDM to the prejudice of its customers and creditors."