Federal Prosecutors Punt On Some Charges Against Bankman-Fried

Federal prosecutors have moved to remove five charges against disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

Prosecutors have asked a judge to remove the five additional charges they brought against the former billionaire this year after they filed their original eight-count indictment in December.

Those charges, which include bribery of a foreign government official, were thrown into doubt after questions arose whether the U.S. government had followed the correct procedure in adding the additional charges after Bankman-Fried’s extradition.

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In December, federal prosecutors charged Bankman-Fried with a slew of criminal counts after his arrest in the Bahamas — including conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, individual charges of securities fraud and wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to avoid campaign finance regulations.

However, the move may just end up opening another case against Bankman-Fried. Federal prosecutors could refile those charges against the FTX founder at a later date separately.

The story so far

FTX filed for bankruptcy protection in November after it was not able to repay customers who had deposited funds on its exchange.

FTX was the fourth-largest crypto exchange by volume when it failed, and Bankman-Fried was one of crypto’s biggest evangelists and financial backers. Through FTX Ventures and his other trading firm Alameda Research, the crypto whiz kid made hundreds of bets on the industry and the future of digital finance.

Investors in FTX included big names such as Sequoia Capital, NEA, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Insight Partners, Temasek, SoftBank Vision Fund, Thoma Bravo, SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Coinbase Ventures.

At its peak, FTX and FTX US — its U.S.-based exchange — were valued at valuations of $32 billion and $8 billions, respectively.