Judge Rejects Sam Bankman-Fried's Request for Insurance Money to Cover Legal Fees

Bankman-Fried’s legal fees are estimated to run in the millions.

On Wednesday, a bankruptcy court judge declared that the disgraced former CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, is not eligible for a $10 million insurance policy taken out by the crypto exchange.

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According to the hearing, FTX had a director and officer liability insurance policy that Bankman-Fried could potentially use to cover his legal costs. However, on Wednesday the judge said there was “no evidence” that the founder needed the money and denied his motion to claim it.

Bankman-Fried’s legal fees are estimated to run in the millions, though there is no exact figure for his court costs yet.

The primary reason for the court’s rejection was that Bankman-Fried did not furnish adequate evidence of needing the money: “I have no choice but to deny the motion for lack of evidence. I will do so without prejudice. If Mr. Bankman-Fried wants to come back and put on an evidentiary hearing that will establish the elements necessary for me to lift the automatic stay, he's free to do so. But we'll deal with that another day,” judge John Dorsey said.