2024-01-01 08:03:21
On December 29th The U.S. Attorney’s Office has announced that they will not re-indict and prosecute the founder of the FTX crypto exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). We can remember that Bankman-Fried was found guilty of seven counts of fraud on November 3rd. Many expected that he would stand trial separately on five more charges. These include illegal political campaign support, attempted bribery, organizing to commit bank fraud or even securities fraud. According to the political campaign support charge, SBF contributed $119 million to political campaigns.
For several reasons, no more lawsuits are being initiated against Bankman-Fried by the prosecution
Originally, the aforementioned indictment would have been part of the original indictment together with the others. However, they were not part of the extradition treaty with the Bahamas. Thus, the island country’s authorities only agreed to the extradition in December 2022 if SBF was brought to court only on the original seven charges in the first round. The prosecution just announced, that in each of the remaining five counts, the evidence, including testimony and documents, was compiled to support SBF’s guilt. However, in the second trial, the authority could present roughly the same evidence as during the first trial.
In addition, according to the prosecutor’s office, the judge can take into account all the evidence at the sentencing in March 2024 and pass his sentence in light of this. This means that a second trial would not affect SBF’s punishment in the entire case anyway. Another trial would further delay the conclusion of the long-running case. Mainly because the Bahamian authorities still responded to the Americans’ request as to whether SBF could be brought to trial on the remaining five charges. According to the prosecution, closing the case is a more important interest than starting a new trial. Immediate closure is a more important issue for victims.
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#hearings #founding #case #FTX