Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers are asking the court to allow the FTX founder to take more Adderall during his hearings – and are proposing to delay his federal trial for a full day until the medication issue is resolved.
In a brief filed Sunday evening, lawyers for Bankman-Fried – better known as SBF – said the former crypto billionaire did not have access to his prescribed dose of ADHD medication during the trial, raising concerns about his ability to to concentrate on the procedure. This is particularly critical, the lawyers wrote, as SBF is nearing the “critical decision” of whether he will testify in his own defense.
“The defense has growing concerns that due to the lack of access to Adderall, Mr. Bankman-Fried has been unable to concentrate at the level he normally would and that he will not be able to engage in meaningful activity “to participate in the presentation of the defense case,” his lawyers wrote.
Attorneys said Bankman-Fried received only one dose of Adderall at 4 or 6 a.m., which wore off when his trial began at 9:30 a.m. According to previous court documents, Bankman-fried takes 10 mg of Adderall three to four times daily.
The plan was to administer an extended-release pill on Monday, the lawyers said. However, it is unclear whether the Bureau of Prisons has the drug or whether the extended-release pill will be effective. If that plan doesn’t work, they requested that the trial be postponed on Tuesday until a better solution was found, or that they be allowed to administer the medication themselves.
Access to Adderall has been an issue for SBF since he was sent to a Brooklyn jail after his bail was revoked. Although Lewis Kaplan agreed to a request to give him “uninterrupted access” to his prescription while in prison, lawyers told the court in August that Bankman-Fried had not received his prescription since his arrival 11 days earlier.
Bankman-Fried and his colleague and ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison both tweeted about using stimulants while working at FTX and Alameda, the hedge fund founded by SBF. Bankman-Fried once tweeted about “stimulants when you wake up, sleeping pills when you need them in your sleep,” while Ellison noted that there’s “nothing like regular amphetamine use to make you realize how stupid many regular, non-medicated ones are.” Medication is human experience.” Bankman-Friend later said he had only taken the medication as prescribed.
The former cryptocurrency golden boy has pleaded not guilty to seven charges, including securities fraud and wire fraud, in connection with FTX’s collapse last November. The final days of his trial in Manhattan federal court were widely seen as devastating for the defense, as two of his top lieutenants testified that they had committed crimes at his side. In one case, the former managing director had to be reprimanded because he shook his head and mocked during a testimony.