FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty Thursday to new federal charges tied to the collapse of the crypto exchange while his lawyer said he plans to challenge the new criminal counts, arguing they violate the terms of the former chief executive’s extradition, the Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Bankman-Fried appeared in a New York federal court to be arraigned on five charges that federal prosecutors unveiled in recent indictments, including one this week that alleged he conspired to bribe Chinese government officials in violation of a U.S. anticorruption law. His lawyer Mark Cohen entered the not guilty plea for Mr. Bankman-Fried during the proceeding. The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office charged Mr. Bankman-Fried in December with eight criminal counts connected to stealing billions of dollars from FTX customers while lying to investors of the company and lenders to his crypto investment firm Alameda Research. Prosecutors have since filed two additional indictments, bringing the total number of criminal counts to 13. The charges range from securities fraud to a bank fraud conspiracy to a campaign-finance violation.
