Bankman-Fried complains about prison. He only eats peanut butter

The former billionaire and founder of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX is in custody, awaiting trial. His lawyer claims his requests for a vegan diet were ignored. At Tuesday’s trial, where he pleaded not guilty to seven counts, including money laundering and conspiracy, Bankman-Fried’s defense attorney Mark Cohen said the FTX founder lives on bread, water and peanut butter. His lawyer added that Bankman-Fried was not receiving his prescribed Adderall.

Cryptocurrency exchange collapsed

FTX filed for bankruptcy in November after CoinDesk reported that its sister trading company, Alameda Research, holds the exchange’s native FTT token as a significant part of its portfolio. Rival exchange Binance then announced that it would sell all of its token holdings, leading to customers starting withdrawing their funds from FTX.

FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas the following month and extradited to the United States where he faced eight counts of fraud.

Former billionaire

Prosecutors said Bankman-Fried had masterminded the financial fraud. In January, Bankman-Fried was accused of illegally transferring money from FTX clients to Alameda Research, a trading company he founded.

The former billionaire was released on $250 million bail, but was sent to MDC, a prison notorious for poor conditions, in August after a judge found there was a likelihood of witness tampering. Bankman-Fried was accused of leaking the diary entries of former partner and co-CEO of Alameda Research Caroline Ellison in July, which prosecutors say is an attempt to cover up.