Sam Bankman-Fried To Continue With Present Legal Team

Sam Bankman-Fried

Sam Bankman-Fried, appeared in court on Wednesday to confirm that he would continue with his legal team. The founder of FTX, the bankrupt cryptocurrency firm, was not changing his lawyers despite there being the possibility of a conflict of interest.

The 31-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried had hired Torrey Young and Marc Mukasey to defend his March 28 sentence. Bankman-Fried could face a lifetime in prison. A jury at a federal court in Manhattan has found the former magnate guilty of cheating FTX customers of billions.

Sam Bankman-Fried has said that he was not averse to retaining his present lawyers despite they also representing Alex Mashinsky, Celsius Networks found. Mashinsky’s cryptocurrency lending firm has also gone down while he has maintained his innocence in court to fraud charges in a separate case.

Sam Bankman-Fried Has Categorically Stated That He Wanted His Original Legal Team

The judge, Kaplan, asked Sam Bankman-Fried to speak about the possible conflict. Bankman-Fried was in a tan jail outfit and had chains on his ankles. He said that his lawyers also represent Mashinsky, though at a different level.

Mukasey had earlier admitted that he had an association with Celsius. The son of the former AG was once in the team of lawyers defending Donald Trump. He also represented Trevor Milton, founder of hydrogen and electric truck maker Nikola. He was also convicted for cheating investors about the technology used by the company.

Sam Bankman-Fried is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn for close to a year. He revealed that he was on anti-depressant medications. His lawyer informed him that Bankman-Fried needed a higher dose than he normally needed. The medicines helped him stay focused during his time in jail.

The 59-year-old Mashinsky waived his right to a lawyer free of any form of potential loss of interest. Though he is now on bail, Sam Bankman-Fried continues to be in prison and faces prison time that could run into decades.