Department of Justice Drops Charges Against Sam Bankman-Fried

The US Department of Justice announced that it had dropped the charges of illegal campaign finance activity against the FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

According to a filing of July 26, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) agreed to drop one of the charges related to illegal campaign finance activity against the disgraced FTX Democrats megadonor and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. 

After months of investigation, it was estimated that Sam Bankman-Fried donated $93 million worth of stolen customer funds to the US politicians. The FTX founder is known as one of the largest Democratic Party donors. Some of Bankman-Fried’s illegal contributions include donations to the 2020 Presidential campaign, as well as campaigns of the U.S. Senators and U.S. House representatives. Prosecutors suggested that the crypto mogul had made these contributions to influence the policies that could potentially benefit the crypto industry.

Following the sudden collapse of the Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange FTX due to its inability to repay the clients, it was also revealed that the company’s former CEO had authorized the diversion of $2 billion from customers' funds to cover loans and expenses for the firm.

Sam Bankman-Fried was originally indicted on eight charges in December. One of these charges is now dropped thanks to the extradition treaty between the United States and the Bahamas. Apparently, the Bahamas submitted a filing to New York federal judge Lewis Kaplan that dropped the charges of campaign finance fraud.

The Department of Justice letter said, “The Government has been informed that The Bahamas notified the United States earlier today that The Bahamas did not intend to extradite the defendant on the campaign contributions count. Accordingly, in keeping with its treaty obligations to The Bahamas, the Government does not intend to proceed to trial on the campaign contributions count.”

The FTX founder will still be charged with the other seven counts present in the DOJ’s original indictment. Those include charges regarding wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. 

After being released on $250 million bail back in December, the bail status of Sam Bankman-Fried is now in jeopardy due to his latest interview with the New York TImes. The persecutors accused the former FTX CEO of discrediting their witness, Caroline Ellison. As a result, Bankman-Fried has agreed to an interim gag order that prevents him from publicly discussing the case. The terms of his bail now depend on federal prosecutors and attorneys.

“I am certainly very mindful of his First Amendment rights, and I am very mindful of the government’s interest here, which I take very seriously. And I say to the defendant, Mr. Bankman-Fried: You better take it seriously, too.” commented Judge Kaplan.

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