US Prosecutors Acquit SBF of Illegal Campaign Donations: Report
- Sam Bankman-Fried has been acquitted of unlawful campaign contributions, one of the charges imposed on him.
- The Bahamas revealed that the extradition documents were exclusive of the charge.
- Consequently, Attorney Damian Williams asserted that the government will proceed with the charge.
According to a recent report, Sam Bankman-Fried, the ill-famed founder of the bankrupt crypto firm FTX, has been acquitted of unlawful campaign contributions– one of the allegations that the disgraced FTX CEO bore. The US prosecutors decided to drop the charge against Bankman-Fried considering his argument that the extradition documents were exclusive of his charge on illegal campaign donations.
In a letter addressing District Judge Lewis Kaplan, US Attorney Damian Williams revealed that the Bahamas informed the government that the country hasn’t agreed to extradite the disgraced entrepreneur on the charge.
Consequently, the US government declared that neither the charge would exist longer, nor the case would advance to trial. In the letter dated July 26, Attorney Williams wrote, “In keeping with its treaty obligations to The Bahamas, the government does not intend to proceed to trial on the campaign contributions count”.
Earlier this year, SBF was charged with four additional financial crimes including illegal donations and bank fraud conspiracy. Later, the defense argued that the newly added charges violated the extradition treaty as they were not included in the original indictment, further demanding to dismiss the charges.
An official document filed in May 2023 indicated that the prosecutors would drop some of the charges against the accused as per the directions of the Bahamas. The prosecutors further stated that the government has no restrictions on charging the defendant with new crimes. He added:
The Government will proceed on the new charges in the S5 Indictment if The Bahamas consents to trial on these charges, and will not proceed on those counts if The Bahamas denies the Government’s request.
Following the dismissal of the charge, the FTX CEO would be holding a total of 12 charges imposed on him since the debacle of the platform. The charges include several accusations of fraud and conspiracy, violation of finance laws, money laundering, etc.
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