By Jack Queen and Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Sam&nbsp;Bankman-Fried&nbsp;pleaded&nbsp;not&nbsp;guilty&nbsp;on Tuesday to criminal charges that he cheated investors in his now-bankrupt&nbsp;FTX&nbsp;cryptocurrency exchange and caused billions of dollars in losses, in what prosecutors have called an "epic"&nbsp;fraud.
He entered his plea in Manhattan federal court where he faces eight criminal counts, including wire&nbsp;fraud&nbsp;and money laundering conspiracy. The 30-year-old ex-mogul is accused of looting&nbsp;FTX&nbsp;customers' deposits to support his Alameda Research hedge fund, buy real estate and donate millions of dollars to political causes.
"Customer funds were also used and laundered through political donations, charitable donations and a variety of venture investments," Danielle Sassoon, a federal prosecutor, said at the hearing.
Sassoon suggested that the government has a deep well of evidence against&nbsp;Bankman-Fried, saying prosecutors will turn over hundreds of thousands of documents in coming weeks to the defense.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan on Tuesday&nbsp;set&nbsp;an Oct. 2 date for&nbsp;trial, which Sassoon said could last four weeks.
The government has already secured&nbsp;guilty&nbsp;pleas from two former top associates of&nbsp;Bankman-Fried's - former Alameda chief executive Caroline Ellison and former&nbsp;FTX&nbsp;chief technology officer Gary Wang - who are cooperating with prosecutors and may testify at&nbsp;trial.
A clean-shaven&nbsp;Bankman-Fried&nbsp;wore a blue suit, white shirt and dotted blue tie and carried a backpack into the courthouse - a far cry from the shorts and t-shirts that were his preferred attire when he ran&nbsp;FTX&nbsp;from the Bahamas.
Bankman-Fried&nbsp;did&nbsp;not&nbsp;speak to the judge during the hearing, but conferred privately with his lawyers. He shook hands with one of the prosecutors before the arraignment. When it ended, he approached the handful of courtroom sketch artists and commented on their work.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate could face up to 115 years in prison if convicted. He has previously acknowledged making mistakes at&nbsp;FTX&nbsp;but said he does&nbsp;not&nbsp;believe he has criminal liability.
'MORE LENIENT'
Bankman-Fried&nbsp;rode a boom in the value of bitcoin and other digital assets to build a net worth of an estimated $26 billion and become an influential political donor in the United States.
FTX&nbsp;collapsed in early November after a wave of withdrawals and declared bankruptcy on Nov. 11, wiping out&nbsp;Bankman-Fried's fortune. He later said he had $100,000 in his bank account.
He was extradited last month from the Bahamas, where he lived and where the exchange was based.
Since his release on a $250 million bond on Dec. 22,&nbsp;Bankman-Fried&nbsp;has been subject to electronic monitoring and required to live with his parents, Joseph&nbsp;Bankman&nbsp;and Barbara&nbsp;Fried, both professors at Stanford Law School in California.&nbsp;Fried&nbsp;attended her son's hearing on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Kaplan imposed a new bail condition, saying&nbsp;Bankman-Fried&nbsp;cannot&nbsp;access&nbsp;FTX&nbsp;or Alameda assets.
That came after Sassoon accused&nbsp;Bankman-Fried&nbsp;of seeking to transfer assets to an unnamed foreign country that he thought would be "more lenient." She said prosecutors were also probing reports late last month that funds were transferred out of Alameda cryptocurrency wallets, though she said there was&nbsp;not&nbsp;evidence&nbsp;Bankman-Fried&nbsp;executed those transactions.
Mark Cohen,&nbsp;Bankman-Fried's lawyer, said his client "did&nbsp;not&nbsp;make" the Alameda transfers. Referring to the accusation that&nbsp;Bankman-Fried&nbsp;sought to transfer money overseas, he said his client had sought to comply with a court order in the Bahamas, which last month temporarily seized some&nbsp;FTX&nbsp;assets.
The Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB) - the Caribbean nation's financial regulator - did&nbsp;not&nbsp;immediately reply to a request for comment.
The SCB in November directed&nbsp;Bankman-Fried&nbsp;and Wang to transfer assets under their control, the commission's executive director, Christina Rolle, said in a Dec. 29 affidavit filed in the Bahamas Supreme Court. The Bahamas has appointed liquidators to wind down&nbsp;FTX's international trading business.
Kaplan on Tuesday also granted&nbsp;Bankman-Fried's request&nbsp;not&nbsp;to publicize the names of two additional co-signers for the bond.
Lawyers for&nbsp;Bankman-Fried&nbsp;have said his parents, who co-signed the bond, have received physical threats since&nbsp;FTX's collapse, and that other co-signers might face similar harassment.
(Reporting by Jack Queen and Luc Cohen in New YorkAdditional reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New YorkEditing by Noeleen Walder and Matthew Lewis)

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Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty in FTX fraud case; October trial set