U.S. prosecutors have decided not to try the remaining charges facing Sam Bankman-Fried, including charges of foreign bribery and bank fraud. Prosecutors, led by U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York, also decided not to file charges of illegal political donations, which were excluded from the original indictment due to a dispute with the Bahamas over Bankman-Fried’s extradition.
In a letter explaining the decision, prosecutors said evidence had already been presented on several of the charges at Bankman-Fried’s original trial, and he was found guilty on all seven counts of fraud and conspiracy related to his leadership of FTX and its sister exchanges. Company, Alameda Research. Prosecutors explain that the evidence may be considered at sentencing even though the jury is never given an opportunity to express its opinion.
The prosecution said, “If the sentencing proceeds in March 2024 without delay due to the second trial, public interest in the timely and fair resolution of the case will increase.”
Therefore, according to the star witness’s testimony, certain information, such as how exactly Thai sex workers were involved in Alameda’s plan to unfreeze its Chinese accounts, may never come to light, which ultimately led to Alameda’s involvement with Chinese government officials. It is said that he offered a bribe to . and former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison.
However, the cryptocurrency community appears to be very concerned about the dropping of one charge in particular, considering Bankman-Fried’s widely publicized donations to a number of both Democratic and Republican politicians. This is a charge of illegal political donation. Prosecutors alleged Bankman-Fried used client funds to make $100 million in political donations.
“No one is surprised,” said presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is running as an independent in the 2024 primary. “This is a bigger problem than the fraud itself. It shows how normalized corruption has become.” A quote from X referring to the decision.
In his response to the same quoted post, Elon Musk simply said “!!”
Coinbase’s Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal called the decision to drop charges a “miscarriage of justice” in a thread about X. “The public interest is almost always paramount in making allegations public. Campaign finance costs are at the forefront of this list,” Grewal wrote. “When did politicians and others know what the important questions were that deserved answers?”
Bankman-Fried’s sentencing is currently scheduled for March 28, 2024.
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