US prosecutors will drop some charges against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried if the Bahamian government objects, according to documents filed May 29 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The filing was in response to a May 8 defense motion to dismiss some of Bankman-Fried's allegations. The defense argued on May 8 that four of the charges, including those related to bribing Chinese officials and violating campaign finance laws, were not in the orig final indictment that served as the basis for Bankman-Fried's extradition. They therefore concluded that these additional charges violated the extradition treaty between the United States and the Bahamas and should be dismissed. In the new response, prosecutors argue that the treaty does not prevent the United States from charging defenders with additional offenses after extradition, so long as they are not "detained, detained, trial or punishment".Prosecutors say they are now seeking special immunity from the Bahamas that would allow them to try Bankman-Fried on three of the four charges that the defense contests. However, these fees would not have been imposed on him if the Bahamas did not grant an exemption :
"If the Bahamas agrees to a trial on these charges, the government will proceed to enforce the new charges in the S5 indictment, and if the Bahamas rejects the government's request, the government will not proceed with the charges." The three charges requiring immunity from the Bahamas include conspiracy to commit bank fraud (Count 9), conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmission business (Count 10) and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (Count 13). As for the remaining illegal campaign contribution counts, prosecutors said they were set out in the original indictment and diplomatic note in which Bankman-Fried agreed to extradite, and no immunity was required.
In a May 8 defense motion, Bankman-Fried's attorneys argued that campaign finance expenses were not included in the "Schedule of Fees" that the defenders agreed to in the transfer order. Prosecutors responded in new filings that the charge was in a diplomatic note they said Bankman-Fried agreed to be extradited in open court. Therefore, they consider that the charges should not be dismissed. Prosecutors also argued that Bankman-Fried did not have standing to challenge any of the allegations as a violation of the treaty because they c laid Only the Bahamian government had standing to challenge them.
A hearing on the motion to dismiss is scheduled for June 15. Bankman-Fried is the founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. The exchange suffered a liquidity crisis in November, leading to its bankruptcy shortly thereafter. It is estimated that it owes creditors more than $3 billion. Caroline Ellison, former CEO of sister firm Alameda Research, and FTX co-founder Gary Wang have both pleaded guilty to fraud charges related to the exchange's collapse. However, Bankman-Fried claimed the collapse was caused by management errors rather than fraud.
