FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) is seeking to have up to 10 criminal charges against him dismissed in courtmonths before his criminal trial scheduled for October.
In court papers filed with the Southern District Court of New York on May 8, SBF legal team lobbied for dismissal of all but three counts of conspiracy to commit property fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Sam Bankman-Fried has filed motions to dismiss all but three charges in the criminal case against him.
The charges he is not answering atm are:
5. Conspiracy to commit commodity fraud
6. Conspiracy to commit securities fraud
and
11. Conspiracy to commit money laundering pic.twitter.com/0Dk1zxEw4j— Molly White (@molly0xFFF) May 9, 2023
Sam Bankman-Fried has filed motions to have all but three charges dismissed in the criminal case against him.
The charges not contested at this time are:
5. Conspiracy to commit property fraud
6. Conspiracy to commit securities fraud
and
11. Conspiracy to commit money laundering. pic.twitter.com/0Dk1zxEw4j
Commenting on the measure, cryptocurrency researcher Molly White suggested that “at least part of this seems to come down to the fact that additional charges were added after the SBF extradition deal was made.”.
SBF was initially extradited to the US from the Bahamas to face eight criminal counts of alleged fraud and money laundering; however, his legal team is arguing that the four of the five additional charges that have since been added as of February “violate the Treaty rule of specialty provision.”
Under the “specialty rule”, the requesting State (USA) is generally required to try the extradited offender (SBF) only for the offense for which he was extradited.
“During the extradition proceedings in the Bahamas, all parties in the court, coram judice¸ and the Court itself, understood that the specialty provisions applied despite the use of the simplified procedure. There was no waiver of the specialty rule. On the contrary, there was an express recognition that it was applied,” argued the lawyers.
SBF arriving to court to be arraigned on 5 new charges since his original indictment. Hearing starts at 11a pic.twitter.com/x8HBsWVbFv
— Dawn Giel (@DawnGiel) March 30, 2023
SBF comes to court to be arraigned on 5 new charges since his original indictment. The hearing begins at 11 a.m. pic.twitter.com/x8HBsWVbFv
These four counts include conspiracy to commit bank fraud and other individual wire fraud charges related to his alleged actions at FTX and Alameda.. The most recent charge added, on March 28, concerns the alleged bribery of $40 million to a Chinese government official.
Apart from this, SBF’s lawyers are also seeking to dismiss other charges related to “conspiracy to defraud the United States” and charges related to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, arguing that there has not been a proper criminal conviction in these charges.
According to his legal team, initial indictment sent via diplomatic note fails to “adequately specify violation” relating to campaign finance lawsand also “does not refer to any US bank accounts, including bank accounts affiliated with FTX or Alameda” in connection with the wire fraud charges.
district judge Lewis Kaplan will hear arguments on June 15 on this dismissal request, and prosecutors will have until May 29 to respond..
Despite the rest of SBF’s inner circle having pleaded guilty and agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors, the man himself has pleaded not guilty. of the charges against him.
SBF has been under house arrest at his parents’ house in Paolo Alto since December. Recently, Judge Kaplan approved the wiretapping of SBF parents’ phones as a way to satisfy the bail conditions, despite SBF’s legal team requesting a review.
Update (May 9, 4:14 am UTC): This article has been updated to include more information about the charges the lawyers are seeking to dismiss and the arguments behind the motion.
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