Sam Bankman-Fried Wants 10 Charges Dropped, Not Guilty on All Counts

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the former CEO and founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX and research group Alamada Research, seeks to have 10 criminal charges dropped because “rather than wait for traditional civil and regulatory processes following their ordinary course to address the situation, the Government jumped in with both feet, improperly seeking to turn these civil and regulatory issues into federal crimes,” according to the first motion to dismiss submitted on May 8. 

The former CEO’s legal team added two more counts to be dismissed were added on May 8 and is seeking dismissal based on the redundancy of charges.

The Southern District Court of New York received the motion of dismissal for all charges except for three counts: conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The legal team brought up one charge, “conspiracy to defraud the United States,” based on a violation of campaign funding laws, and wants it to be dropped because “extradition was granted solely on the first seven counts referenced in the Diplomatic Note—not the final count for conspiracy to defraud the United States and violate the campaign finance laws.” SBF’s lawyers argue that “none of the factual allegations [are] supporting that charge.”

The official court document detailing why charges should be dropped read: 

“Mr. Bankman-Fried had not defrauded anyone, nor intended to defraud anyone.”

Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas in December 2022 and eventually booked with 13 counts of criminal charges, many referencing defrauding customers and bank fraud linked to the eventual collapse of the FTX exchange. He was promptly expedited to the United States on eight charges of fraud and money laundering, with more charges added as investigations uncovered more evidence.

What happened at FTX appears to be good, old-fashioned fraud, and I’m glad prosecutors have been investigating what happened to ensure everyone who committed crimes is held accountable for what they did.

— Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) December 13, 2022

He was additionally charged with allegedly bribing one or more Chinese officials with $40 million on March 28, specifically that SBF “directed and caused the transfer of at least approximately $40 million in cryptocurrency intended for the benefit of one or more Chinese government officials,” according to the docket:  

“SBF stole FTX customers’ deposits, and used billions of dollars in stolen funds for a variety of purposes.” 

Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty on all counts. Prosecutors have until May 29 to respond, and the hearing for dismissal will be on June 15.