Once Again, the Sam Bankman-Fried Saga Turns Its Attention to Adderall
Reading Time: 4 minutesThe defendant tried to delay his trial because he isn’t getting all his meds. Why might that be?, Sam Bankman-Fried wasn’t getting all his Adderall. Why might that be?
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There have been many differences in the stories that federal prosecutors and FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers have told the jury about the rise and fall of SBF’s crypto empire. First and foremost, there’s the huge question of whether he’s actually a thief who stole billions from his customers. There’s the question of whether his former confidants are testifying against him out of shame and duty or just to save their own hides. This week, we also got a surprisingly large conflict around a seemingly small detail: whether SBF should be taking two or four doses of Adderall a day.
First, over the weekend, SBF’s lawyers submitted a letter to the court asking to delay the trial until SBF could get the four daily doses he would require to function through the day—and, possibly, testify.
‘As we approach the defense case and the critical decision of whether Mr. Bankman-Fried will testify, the defense has a growing concern that because of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s lack of access to Adderall he has not been able to concentrate at the level he ordinarily would and that he will not be able to meaningfully participate in the presentation of the defense case,’ Mark Cohen, SBF’s lead lawyer, wrote of his client, whom he has previously said has ADHD.
With the request still unresolved on Monday, Cohen raised it again with Judge Lewis Kaplan.
The prosecution countered by attacking the notion that Bankman-Fried needed that much Adderall. The psychiatrist who had prescribed it to him had engaged in ‘some suspect practices that we’ve learned about in the course of our investigations,’ prosecutor Danielle Sassoon said. And the Federal Bureau of Prisons had conducted its own investigation and decided to reduce his dose to something more ‘medically appropriate.’
What’s going on here? Why are these lawyers spending so much time talking about Adderall?
There are essentially three possibilities.
The first is simply that this is a medical disagreement boiling over into the courtroom. Based on the prosecution’s statements in court, this seems the most likely explanation. Once someone goes to jail or prison—or, in this case, New York City’s Metropolitan Detention Center—their former prescription routine is just a recommendation. A new medical provider on-site assesses their health and determines what makes sense. This could be the same as their previous routine or not.
Kaplan said on Monday that he’d been informed that, starting on Thursday, Bankman-Fried would be furnished with extended-release Adderall that would last him longer into the day. Such a change could be motivated by a desire to reduce his dose or to give him a comparable dose on a more convenient schedule.
Lori Roscoe, a nurse practitioner focused on correctional health care, explained that Adderall is designated a ‘watch take’ in prison, meaning that Bankman-Fried would get his pills one at a time under observation from a nurse. In prison, there are typically two major opportunities for medication: one in the morning and one in the evening. If someone requires medication more times a day, in their cell or the courtroom, that involves additional logistics.
Or it could be some kind of legal strategy. On Monday the judge said, ‘I can’t write the prescription.’
The judge made a similar point earlier in the trial. So why does the defense keep raising medical issues with the judge? It could simply be that the lawyers are desperate to get their client more Adderall. Indeed, they have said they’ve tried to contact prison officials but haven’t heard back. And just because someone is a high-profile inmate does not mean that the prison communication machine suddenly works. Just look at what happened with Jeffrey Epstein.)
Or, as I wrote last week, it’s not entirely far-fetched that they are hoping that their client’s attentional difficulties make him more sympathetic.
Finally, it could be that a physician in the correctional system wants to take SBF off Adderall and is gradually cutting back his dosage—either because they are unconvinced he has ADHD or because they want him on another medication. Adderall is popular in prison. And in general, correctional health care providers try to avoid giving people the powerful stimulant ‘because of the potential for abuse and diversion’—as in, inmates taking too much or selling it—explained Roscoe. Partly for this reason, correctional physicians favor alternative nonstimulant ADHD medications instead.
If a physician thought a medication was harming someone—that is, causing high-risk side effects—they might opt to wean the person off it. Roscoe said that this weaning process typically happens gradually, to avoid severe withdrawal. It seems unlikely that it would begin now, so far into SBF’s stay behind bars. (He’s been in jail since August.) But if that is what’s going on, he’s probably just one of many people around him dealing with the challenge of no longer being on what they are used to. More often, though, individuals behind bars are withdrawing from alcohol and illicit drugs, Roscoe said.
Reference: https://slate.com/technology/2023/10/sbf-adderall-trial-delay-testify-adhd.html
Ref: slate
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