Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to latest batches of charges

Sam Bankman-Fried, the 31-year-old founder of the now collapsed FTX cryptocurrency exchange, is pleading not guilty to additional charges made against him in recent weeks, his attorney told a Manhattan federal court judge on Thursday. At the same time, Bankman-Fried's attorney, Mark Cohen, said his client isn't acknowledging that he can be tried on the new charges, the Associated Press reported. The attorney didn't elaborate on the statement and left the courthouse quickly, according to the report. On Tuesday, Bankman-Fried was charged on 13 additional accounts , alleging that he bribed Chinese government officials. In December, he was indicted with eight counts, including fraud and money laundering, and in February 12 more counts were added , including unlawful political contributions and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. Last week, FTX's caretaker management identified more than $3.2B in payments and loans the company had made to its founders and key employees, including ~$2.2B to Bankman-Fried.