Prosecutors Urge Court To Proceed With All Charges Against SBF

US Federal prosecutors in the Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) case claim that arguments put forward by the FTX founder to dismiss criminal charges are meritless. As reported earlier, SBF’s lawyers had asked the court to dismiss 10 out 13 charges against him.

SBF’s lawyers claimed that the US is making federal crimes out of regulatory issues.

SBF’s motion to dismiss criminal charges are meritless

Prosecutors wrote in a nearly 100-page filing that these motions put forward by SBF’s lawyers are meritless. “The charges track the relevant statutes and the defendant’s alleged misconduct falls within the heartland of what these statutes prohibit,” the filing noted.

Disgraced FTX founder SBF has pleaded not guilty to charges that he cheated investors and looted customer deposits on his crypto exchange to make lavish real estate purchases, donate money to politicians and make risky trades at Alameda Research, his cryptocurrency hedge fund trading firm. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams has called it one of the biggest frauds in U.S. history.

Prosecutors ask court to proceed with all charges

Earlier, SBF’s lawyers argued that eight counts in the original indictment were too vague and non-specific to proceed to trial and that additional charges were barred by an ExtraditionTreaty between the U.S. and the Bahamas that prohibited charges not approved at the time of extradition. However, prosecutors have asked Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to let all charges proceed. They said the claims against the original charges were legally sufficient and that permission is being sought from the Bahamas to permit the newest charges.

Prosecutors wrote that the defendant’s spending of misappropriated funds on political donations is probative of the defendant’s motive for defrauding FTX’s customers and investors. As in, the defendant wanted access to capital that he could use for political donations that would burnish his own image and improve the regulatory prospects of his business in the US. A trial is expected to begin this fall.

The new CEO of FTX who is appointed to oversee the bankruptcy proceedings has hinted of reviving the crypto exchange.