Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty in the US government's criminal case over FTX crash

Sam Bankman-Fried appeared in New York federal court Tuesday to enter a not-guilty plea, but he could still try to strike a plea deal in the future.

• Sam Bankman-Fried entered a plea of not guilty to the fraud and conspiracy charges against him, according to reports.
• The plea can serve as a placeholder if he decides to negotiate a deal with prosecutors.
• If Bankman-Fried doesn't reach a deal with the government, the case would head to a trial. 

Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty in the US government's criminal case against him over the collapse of his crypto exchange FTX, Reuters reported.

At a hearing on Tuesday before US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in New York, Bankman-Fried's lawyer spoke for him, saying, "He pleads not guilty to all counts," AP reported.

Bankman-Fried's plea, which wasn't a surprise, doesn't necessarily mean he'll definitely be fighting the charges and heading to a trial. It's more likely a placeholder in the early stage of the proceedings, which will give him time to get a sense of the prosecutors' case against him and if he's interested in trying to strike a potential plea deal.

Bankman-Fried is facing 8 criminal counts against him over what the US government has described as an epic fraud that led to the loss of $8 billion in FTX customer funds. The charges against Bankman-Fried — including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering — carry penalties that could amount to life in prison for the 30-year-old.

Two of his top lieutenants, Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang, have already pleaded guilty to charges stemming from the scheme and are cooperating with prosecutors.

Bankman-Fried could already be engaged in discussions with prosecutors — a process that can take time — about a potential resolution that could avert a trial, white-collar experts said. 

"You have to enter a plea as a matter of course, so he has to answer the charges and enter the plea," said Mark Kasten of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney. "Just because he enters a plea of not guilty, it doesn't mean he's not working with prosecutors."    

The court would ultimately decide on the length of any sentence, taking into consideration factors including the size of the scheme, and the degree to which Bankman-Fried admits guilt.   

After a hearing last month, his first in the case after being extradited to the US from the Bahamas, Bankman-Fried was released on a $250 million bail agreement that requires him to stay put at his parents' home in California. 

The next steps in the case can involve more hearings as the court helps to tee the case up for a possible trial. The parties can also expect to receive court deadlines to file various pre-trial motions, and to determine rules for the discovery process, which will involve going through reams of documents from FTX and Alameda Research, a crypto hedge fund that Bankman-Fried also controlled.

Bankman-Fried separately also has civil lawsuits pending against him by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. How those cases proceed would also depend on the course of the criminal case. A criminal trial, for instance, could help him put civil suits against him on hold. He may also reach a plea agreement that would resolve those civil cases as well.