Prosecutors withdraw campaign finance charges against Sam Bankman-Fried

U.S. prosecutors have withdrawn political campaign financing charges against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, according to a July 27 court filing.

The decision to drop the charges stems from the terms of the United States extradition treaty with the Bahamas, which stipulate that the government would not prosecute Bankman-Fried on charges for which the Bahamanian government did not extradite him. Per the filing:

“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.”

Bankman-Fried is being tried in the Southern District of New York for multiple fraud allegations related to the collapse of FTX, once the world’s second-largest crypto exchange. That firm filed for bankruptcy in November of 2022 after the firm’s insolvency became publicly known.

Charges in flux

The withdrawn charges correspond to Count Eight of the original indictment and Count Twelve of the superseding indictment. Those charges allege that Bankman-Fried made political donations in the names of others to avoid source and amount restrictions.

Those charges are among several others that Bankman-Fried could face during his October trial. The former FTX CEO initially faced eight charges related to his past role as CEO of the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX. Though prosecutors later added five charges, bringing the total to 13, prosecutors withdrew five in mid-June.

Reports from Reuters emphasize that the previously withdrawn charges have not been dropped entirely and that Bankman-Fried will face those charges later. It is unclear whether this also applies to the recently withdrawn campaign finance charges.

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