SBF had been expected to enter a not-guilty plea because it would give his legal team an opportunity to assess the prosecutors' case.
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Sam Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges in relation to the collapse of FTX — and will face trial in October.
The 30-year-old appeared in court in Manhattan on Tuesday afternoon, and the eight counts against him include allegations of wire fraud.
SBF had been expected to enter a not-guilty plea because it would give his legal team an opportunity to assess the prosecutors' case.
Two of his closest associates, Alameda Research's former CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang, have pleaded guilty to fraud charges after entering plea deals.
After physically elbowing his way through a scrum of reporters with the help of a four-man security team, the ex-billionaire entered the court clean-shaven but still wearing his trademark mop of curly hair and decked out in a suit and tie.
The hearing saw Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon offer a summary of the evidence against SBF.
Bankman Fried is accused of stealing billions of dollars of customer funds, which he secretly transferred to prop up Alameda after it lost a fortune on bad trades. In a stream of interviews, he claimed he was not a crook but had simply lost track of the billions Alameda traders were losing due to his own laziness and incompetence.
Perhaps the most surprising twist in the tale saw the U.S. propose an additional bail condition that would stop the embattled entrepreneur from accessing or transferring any assets that belonged to the two businesses he founded.
That followed reports that prosecutors are examining crypto transactions that are connected to wallets that SBF owned. The former CEO has insisted he no longer has access to those funds, meaning he couldn't be moving them. Sassoon warned:
"We do have concerns that within a period of a few days additional assets could become inaccessible."
Victims' Anger Turns Ugly
The eight counts of fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and campaign finance violations could see SBF jailed for life.
And the harassment and threats of violence targeting his parents in recent days could threaten his release on bail.
While his lawyers haven't said that outright, they did file a motion on Tuesday morning asking a judge to keep secret the identity of two additional co-signers of the $250 million bond allowing Bankman-Fried to await trial under house arrest rather than in jail.
Those "sureties" must sign the documents by Jan. 5. Like Bankman-Fried's parents they are pledging all of their wealth to support the $250 million bond — and would be liable if he flees.
In requesting that the judge redact their identities, the lawyers noted that "Bankman-Fried's parents have received a steady stream of threatening correspondence, including communications expressing a desire that they suffer physical harm."
As a result, the filing said:
"There is serious cause for concern that the two additional sureties would face similar intrusions on their privacy as well as threats and harassment if their names appear unredacted on their bonds or their identities are otherwise publicly disclosed."
There is an unspoken implication that if the two sureties are identified, they will face not only intense "media scrutiny" as well as harassment and potentially even physical danger, they will back out.
Additional reporting by Leo Jakobson.
