Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of FTX, will face the original eight counts brought against him by American prosecutors in his criminal case, according to court documents filed on June 14, 2023.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) prosecutors informed district judge Lewis Kaplan of their intention to pursue the allegations initially filed against Bankman-Fried.
In December 2022, Bankman-Fried was charged in connection with his involvement in the troubled cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which faced liquidity problems in November 2022 and eventually went bankrupt. The prosecutors alleged that Bankman-Fried commingled customer funds and provided investors with misleading information about FTX’s risk management protocols, resulting in significant financial losses for investors and clients. The estimated debt owed by FTX to creditors exceeds $3 billion.
After Bankman-Fried’s extradition, the DoJ revealed four additional charges in February 2023, including allegations of fraud and fraud conspiracy. Subsequently, in March 2023, another charge was introduced, accusing Bankman-Fried of making bribe payments to Chinese authorities.
Bankman-Fried presented a motion in the Bahamas, claiming that several of the 13 allegations against him were not part of the original indictment for his extradition. On June 14, 2023, the Bahamas Supreme Court ruled that Bankman-Fried should be allowed to formally challenge the new allegations before they can be accepted by the country.
However, the DoJ attorneys have expressed their readiness to proceed with the trial as scheduled and focus on the counts included in the initial indictment. They anticipate a lengthy legal process due to the complexity of the case. The resolution of Bankman-Fried’s motion is expected to take a significant amount of time and may not be concluded before the trial begins.
In a related develpoment, two other individuals connected to the collapse of FTX have already pleaded guilty to charges of fraud. Gary Wang, a co-founder of FTX, and Caroline Ellison, a former CEO of Alameda Research’s sister firm, admitted their involvement in fraudulent activities. In contrast, Bankman-Fried maintains that management errors, rather than fraudulent activities, were responsible for the downfall of the exchange.
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