Former FTX CEO sees new charges withdrawn, to be tried only on original ones

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO and founder of Bahamas-based cryptocurrency trading platform FTX, saw the new charges against him withdrawn, as he will only be tried on original charges, according to reports.

Prosecutors with the Justice Department said late Wednesday they would agree to try the former CEO on the original eight charges brought on him in December, said the reports.

Attorneys of Bankman-Fried, who will go to trial in the fall, moved in mid-May to dismiss superseding indictments on grounds that prosecutors did not state "an offense for failure to allege a valid property right" and "failure to state an offense."

In late-May, a court in the Bahamas, where Bankman-Fried was extradited from, blocked the local government from agreeing to additional charges on grounds related to the extradition agreement with the US.

On Tuesday, a court in the Bahamas temporarily barred the local government from agreeing to allow American prosecutors to continue their criminal case against Bankman-Fried.

After pleading not guilty in December to eight original charges in the US District Court Southern District of New York, Bankman-Fried was released on $250 million bail to remain in confinement at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California.

Those eight charges were conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, standalone charges of conspiracy, securities fraud and wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the US, as well as campaign finance violations.

In March, he pleaded "not guilty" to the five additional charges against him, which included conspiring to bribe one or more Chinese government officials to regain access to his hedge fund Alameda Research's trading accounts, which was brought in March, while the others in February were conspiracy to commit wire fraud, operating an unlicensed money transmitter, defrauding the Federal Election Commission, and making unlawful political contributions.

After its implosion in late 2022, FTX recovered $7.3 billion in cash and assets, according to the company’s attorney in mid-April.