Sam Bankman-Fried has yet to receive his prescribed dose of Adderall, affecting the disgraced cryptocurrency mogul’s ability to concentrate as he weighs the pivotal decision of whether to testify in his criminal fraud trial, his lawyers say.
The 31-year-old former billionaire is receiving an early-morning dose of the stimulant before court officials take him from Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center to federal court in Manhattan, where he faces trial on charges of stealing more than 8 billion dollars to customers. from your FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
However, the Adderall disappears when the trial begins at 9:30 a.m., his lawyers say, reportedly leaving the former cryptocurrency golden boy unable to concentrate properly as a decision looms on whether he will take the stand.
“The defense has growing concerns that due to Mr. Bankman-Fried’s lack of access to Adderall, he has not been able to concentrate at the level he normally would and will not be able to meaningfully participate in the defense presentation. case,” Bankman-Fried’s attorney, Mark Cohen, wrote to the court in a document filed Sunday night.
Prosecutors, who have called Bankman-Fried’s former lover and business partner Caroline Ellison and other former FTX members as witnesses, are expected to conclude their case in the next week or two.
Bankman-Fried’s Adderall dose is disappearing when her trial begins each morning at 9:30 a.m., her lawyers say.AP
Bankman-Fried will then have to decide whether to testify as a defense witness, which would also open the possibility for prosecutors to question him.
Attorneys for the accused scammer have proposed a possible solution to the Adderall problem: have jail officials give Bankman-Fried a 20-milligram “extended-release” dose over 12 hours in the morning.
But they wrote Sunday that it is “unclear” whether the jail will provide Bankman-Fried with the dose in time.
Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, is among several former FTX members testifying against him.REUTERS
Attorneys complained that emails and phone calls to the deputy general counsel of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons have gone unanswered.
The lawyers also asked Manhattan federal court Judge Lewis Kaplan to issue an order allowing the lawyers themselves to administer Bankman-Fried Adderall in court during the trial.
The judge is expected to consider the request sometime Monday.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyers have proposed giving her an “extended-release” dose of Adderall so she can concentrate.Getty Images
Meanwhile, prosecutors called former FTX chief engineer Nashad Singh to the stand Monday morning.
Singh, testifying as a government cooperator, criticized Bankman-Fried for “excessive” spending while running FTX and its associated crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research, including spending more than $1 billion on endorsement deals with celebrities such as Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen and about the naming rights to the Miami Heat NBA basketball stadium.
“Everything reeked of excess and ostentation,” Singh testified. “It didn’t align with what I thought we were building the company for.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn