Jailed FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried is taking ADHD medication while awaiting trial on federal fraud charges in a notorious Brooklyn jail, a court filing revealed Friday.
Bankman-Fried’s access to the prescribed drug was referenced in a letter from Manhattan federal prosecutor Damian Williams, who raised objections to some of the proposed questions included in a jury questionnaire submitted by the disgraced ex-billionaire’s defense team.
“The Government is also wary of the Court suggesting to the jury that the defendant’s ‘physical behavior, body language, or eye contact’ are a product of ADHD,” Williams said in the letter. “The defendant is currently taking medication for his ADHD, which should effectively manage any symptoms.”
“Moreover, the description of the potential visible symptoms of ADHD is both vague and expansive, and invites the defendant to disrupt the trial under the guise of exhibiting symptoms of ADHD,” Williams added.
Williams said the defense’s proposed questions to potential jurors about ADHD are “irrelevant and prejudicial” and “would serve only to improperly cast the defendant at the outset of the trial in a sympathetic light.”
