Prosecutors have made the decision to drop a campaign finance charge against Sam Bankman-Fried before his scheduled criminal trial in October.
However, this does not mean that the United States Department of Justice is absolving the FTX founder of any responsibility for his alleged involvement in criminal activity.
It is possible that the charges pertaining to the campaign finance will be pursued at a later date.
The first part of Bankman-Fried’s trial will take place on October 2nd of this year. This proceeding will involve a total of seven charges, some of which include money laundering, securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Another trial is scheduled to take place in March of the following year, and it will involve five charges, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, operating an unlicensed money transmitter, and attempting to bribe officials of a foreign government.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has just recently sent out a letter in which they announced that they will be dropping one of the charges because of extradition treaty obligations they have with the Bahamas. The recent development has given rise to rumors and speculation regarding the possibility that political protection was involved.
It’s much less exciting in reality
Background on the case: The United States government submitted a request for Bankman-Fried’s extradition in December, which resulted in the arrest of Bankman-Fried by the police in the Bahamas. Bankman-Fried initially resisted extradition, but he eventually agreed to it, which led to his transfer to the United States of America.
After his extradition, he was only confronted with the initial eight charges that had been filed against him in December of 2022. In spite of this, the Department of Justice (DOJ) of the United States added five new charges and issued two amended indictments over the course of the subsequent months.
During the course of the legal proceedings, however, Bankman-Fried’s legal team argued that the Bahamas were required to give their consent to the additional charges in accordance with the terms of the extradition treaty.
The Department of Justice has indicated that it is willing to wait for that approval. In spite of the fact that the government of the Bahamas appeared likely to grant it, a judge on the Supreme Court decided that Bankman-Fried had the legal right to challenge it first.
As a consequence of this, the Department of Justice has consented to handle the five additional charges in a separate manner and has scheduled the trial for the month of March.
Recently, during the course of a hearing, Bankman-Fried’s legal team argued that the campaign finance charge was not a component of the arrest warrant. Despite this, the prosecution claimed that it was part of the extradition request.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) communicated with the United States Government (USG) via letter on Wednesday, stating that the Bahamas Government had informed USG that the campaign finance charge was not included in the arrest warrant or the extradition document. This led one to believe that the fee required authorization from the government of the Bahamas as well.
The United States government submitted a request for Bankman-Fried’s extradition in December, which resulted in the arrest of Bankman-Fried by the police in the Bahamas. Bankman-Fried initially resisted extradition, but he eventually agreed to it, which led to his transfer to the United States of America.
After his extradition, he was only confronted with the initial eight charges that had been filed against him in December of 2022. In spite of this, the Department of Justice (DOJ) of the United States added five new charges and issued two amended indictments over the course of the subsequent months.
During the course of the legal proceedings, however, Bankman-Fried’s legal team argued that the Bahamas were required to give their consent to the additional charges in accordance with the terms of the extradition treaty.
The Department of Justice has indicated that it is willing to wait for that approval. In spite of the fact that the government of the Bahamas appeared likely to grant it, a judge on the Supreme Court decided that Bankman-Fried had the legal right to challenge it first.
As a consequence of this, the Department of Justice has consented to handle the five additional charges in a separate manner and has scheduled the trial for the month of March.
Recently, during the course of a hearing, Bankman-Fried’s legal team argued that the campaign finance charge was not a component of the arrest warrant. Despite this, the prosecution claimed that it was part of the extradition request.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) communicated with the United States Government (USG) via letter on Wednesday, stating that the Bahamas Government had informed USG that the campaign finance charge was not included in the arrest warrant or the extradition document. This led one to believe that the fee required authorization from the government of the Bahamas as well.
