Sam Bankman-Fried isn’t getting his Adderall and is surviving on ‘bread and water,’ lawyers say

In a listening to in New York on Tuesday, legal professionals for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried expressed issues over their consumer’s dwelling circumstances at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, the place he is being housed for alleged witness tampering.

Bankman-Fried’s authorized group instructed a federal choose that the previous crypto billionaire was “subsisting on bread and water” and “sometimes peanut butter,” as a result of the jail cannot accommodate his vegan weight-reduction plan. They mentioned he had solely been provided the usual “flesh meals.” 

Mark Cohen, an lawyer on the case, added that Bankman-Fried had not acquired any doses of his prescribed treatment Adderall, a remedy for attention-deficit/hyperactivity dysfunction (ADHD), since being remanded to custody 11 days in the past. Cohen mentioned his consumer solely had a “limited” and “dwindling” provide of Emsam, a transdermal patch for treating despair. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who’s presiding over the prison trial, had instructed a jail to offer these prescribed drugs to Bankman-Fried.

The listening to on Tuesday marked Bankman-Fried’s first time in court docket since he was despatched to MDC earlier this month. He is because of be held there till his prison trial begins in October. Bankman-Fried, donning a beige, jail-issued uniform and ankle shackles, pleaded not responsible to seven costs, together with fraud and conspiracy, in a brand new superseding indictment. He beforehand pleaded not responsible to extra indictments associated to the collapse of his crypto empire.

An earlier request from Bankman-Fried’s legal professionals included a letter from his psychiatrist, George Lerner, who has been treating the previous FTX CEO since February 2019.

“Mr. Bankman-Fried has a history of Major Depressive Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,” Lerner wrote.

Without his treatment, Lerner warned, “Bankman-Fried will experience a return of his depression and ADHD symptoms and will be severely negatively impacted in his ability to assist in his own defense.”

Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn mentioned she would look into these points instantly and intention to have an answer by the top of the day. 

Christian Everdell, one other lawyer on Bankman-Fried’s authorized group, instructed Netburn that there are “serious Sixth Amendment issues” involving Bankman-Fried not with the ability to put together and take part in his protection with solely six weeks till trial. 

Bankman-Fried has up to now been unable to achieve entry to the web and a laptop computer. His legal professionals have argued that with their consumer in jail, he will be unable to correctly put together for his trial because of the mountainous quantities of discovery paperwork solely accessible by way of a pc linked to the web.

Judge Netburn mentioned the protection must make trial prep requests via Judge Kaplan.

On Monday, Judge Kaplan granted Bankman-Fried and his attorneys permission to work out of the courthouse at 500 Pearl Street in Manhattan instantly following Tuesday’s arraignment. Judge Netburn mentioned she would deal with issues over Bankman-Fried’s dwelling circumstances straight with the U.S. Justice Department’s Bureau of Prisons, which runs the jail.

Bankman-Fried had his bail revoked over his determination to leak non-public diary entries by his ex-girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, to The New York Times. In a lot of her private writings, Ellison expressed self-doubt and emotions of stress in her function as the previous head of Bankman-Fried’s failed crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research.

WATCH: Sam Bankman-Fried despatched to jail over witness tampering