The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced late Wednesday that it had dropped campaign financing charges against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. According to the federal regulator, the shock move was due to a communication from the Bahamas stating that it did not intend to extradite Bankman-Fried on the eight counts of campaign charges.
“The Government has been informed that The Bahamas notified the United States earlier today that The Bahamas does not intend to extradite the defendant on the campaign contributions count,” the filing stated.
The DOJ stated that the Bahamas failed to include the eight counts of campaign financing charges in its recent extradition treaty. Hence, the US regulator noted it would keep its treaty obligations to the Bahamas by discontinuing pressing charges against Bankman-Fried.
Lesser Things to Worry About for SBF
The indicted FTX founder now has fewer counts of charges to worry about in his October trial after the DOJ dropped the campaign financing charges. Prosecutors filed up to thirteen counts of charges against Bankman-Fried after adding five counts in March, where they accused SBF of bribing Chinese officials.
SBF’s attorney tried to reduce some of the charges against him two months ago, giving several reasons for the filing. Among the reasons was that The Bahamas agreed to some of the charges against Bankman-Fried under the terms of the US’s extradition treaty.
The indictment reduction came after the federal regulator demanded that a stricter bail term be placed on SBF for a safer community. The US DOJ noted that it was necessary to avoid interfering with a fair trial by tampering with witnesses.
A More Interesting October Trial
Bankman-Fried seems to have found a way back into what looked like an already-concluded case. The former FTX CEO was at risk of close to 100 years imprisonment if found guilty.
With the reduced charges against him, SBF seems to have a lifeline after all. However, his close associates have all pleaded guilty to charges against them, making it much more difficult for Bankman-Fried. The ball now lies in Judge Lewis Kaplan’s court in the October trial.
