• FTX former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to plead not guilty in his upcoming fraud hearing this week.
• Amid community speculations, SBF said he is not behind the latest fund liquidations from Alameda Research wallets.

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the former Chief Executive Officer of the now-defunct FTX Derivatives Exchange is reportedly planning to plead not guilty to the fraud charges Federal Prosecutors have levied against him in his next hearing. 

As reported by Reuters, the hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, January 3, will see SBF backpedal on the setup from his two other former executives Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang, both of whom have already pleaded guilty to aiding the 30-year-old in defrauding FTX customers, and investors.

SBF’s life post-bankruptcy

Since FTX filed for bankruptcy last year, a series of events keep emerging as the media generally pored over the proceedings in which about a million customers are waiting to be paid. The exchange’s former boss saw a tumultuous 4th quarter after being imprisoned in the Bahamas before being extradited to the United States.

In the States, Sam Bankman-Fried was placed on an expensive bail bond of $250 million and he remains on house arrest in his parent’s home in California. Despite earlier speculations that he was billed to spend the Christmas and New Year Holidays in jail, his release shows the leniency of the US Justice system.

While Reuters was sure of its sources concerning his plans to plead not guilty to the ongoing case, only the proceeding will show how much innocence SBF will claim at the end of the day. The preliminary not-guilty plea may still be changed along the line when the proceedings progress, however, the notion further hangs Caroline and Gary in the balance for masterminding the collapse of the platform.

The community reacted to the claims that SBF will plead not guilty with some in the community noting that his not-guilty plea will not reduce the years he will be sentenced behind bars for. 

Twitter User, @MaskedEcon said;

I guess he wants more time in his parents basement before going to prison for decades. Might as well take a gamble on a trial with the years he is facing in prison. A plea deal would still be decades behind bars,

In the crypto ecosystem of today, the ongoing SBF trial is one of the most followed proceedings despite other high-profile bankruptcy cases involving Celsius Network and Voyager Digital still ongoing.

Refuting wallet activity claims

One notable event in FTX post-bankruptcy is the unexplainable movement of funds from some of Alameda Research’s wallets. From the more than $370 million hacking in November last year to the recent funds worth almost $700,000 flagged by Arkham Intelligence, the community’s speculations that SBF has a hand in these events have continued to rise.

Taking to Twitter, SBF has refuted these claims noting that he currently has no access to these wallets in question.

“None of these are me.  I’m not and couldn’t be moving any of those funds; I don’t have access to them anymore,” he said in his tweets, adding that;

believe it is likely the case that various legit legs of FTX have the ability to access these funds; hopefully that’s what’s happening here.  If not, hopefully one steps in soon to do so.  I would be happy to help advise regulators on this if any wanted.

Despite his innocent stance, Bloomberg reports that US Prosecutors are actively investigating the fund’s movement.