Judge Rules Against Sam Bankman-Fried’s Motion to Dismiss Most Charges

United States Judge Lewis Kaplan from the District Court for the Southern District of New York has denied motions from former FTX Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sam Bankman-Fried and his legal team to dismiss most charges levied against him. Per a statement from Kaplan, after considering all parts of the argument from both parties, the court decided that “the arguments are either moot or without merit.”

SBF Tries to Throw Out 10 of 13 Charges

The motion was filed last month with the request to dismiss all other charges except three against the young billionaire who was accused of orchestrating a multi-billion-dollar fraud. SBF’s lawyers claimed that the court had been too hasty in its judgement against him.

Based on Bankman-Fried’s legal team motion, they were trying to persuade the judge to throw out 10 out of the 13 charges against the former CEO. 

If the request was granted, he would have been left with charges like conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Judge Kaplan considered the request to dismiss 10 charges including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and violation of campaign finance law untenable.

Dismissal is Reserved For Truly Extreme Cases

However, on close examination, the federal judge who has been overseeing the FTX case since November last year when the cryptocurrency exchange filed for bankruptcy chose to deny the motion citing the U.S Court of Appeal for the Second Circuit. 

According to Kaplan, “Dismissal of charges ‘is an “extraordinary remedy” reserved only for extremely limited circumstances implicating fundamental rights.‘” He also noted that “the Second Circuit has deemed dismissal an ‘extreme sanction’ that has been upheld ‘only in very limited and extreme circumstances,’ and should be ‘reserved for the truly extreme cases,’ ‘especially where serious criminal conduct is involved.’”

Kaplan also issued a memorandum opinion on motions that could have aided SBF’s legal team to conceal certain information related to the ongoing case. As it stands, Bankman-Fried would face all charges against him including the 8 from December 2022, 4 from earlier this year and 1 for allegedly bribing a Chinese government official.