FTX’s Bankman-Fried needs depression, ADHD meds in jail, lawyers say

By Luc Cohen

(Reuters) – Sam Bankman-Fried, the indicted founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, needs access to medications to treat depression and attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) while jailed ahead of his fraud trial, his lawyers said on Monday.

In a letter, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to order the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn to ensure their client has a daily Emsam skin patch for depression and three or four doses a day of Adderall for ADHD.

He has been prescribed those medications for five and three years, respectively, they said.

“Without these medications, Mr. Bankman-Fried will experience a return of his depression and ADHD symptoms, which will severely impact his ability to assist in his own defense,” the 31-year-old former billionaire’s lawyers wrote, citing a letter from his psychiatrist filed in court. 

Kaplan on Friday remanded Bankman-Fried to the MDC after finding probable cause to believe he had tampered with witnesses at least twice. Bankman-Fried was only able to bring enough of the medicines to last a few days, his lawyers wrote. 

Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to charges he stole billions of dollars in FTX funds to plug losses at his Alameda Research hedge fund. 

Until Friday, he had been largely confined to his parents’ Palo Alto, California, home on $250 million bond since his December extradition from the Bahamas, where FTX was based.

After he was brought to a Bahamas courtroom for an initial appearance following his arrest at the luxurious Albany resort where he lived, Bankman-Fried briefly left at the start of the proceedings to change his Emsam patch, a medical strip applied to the skin to treat depression in adults.

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