US Prosecutors Drop Charges on SBF For Illegal Campaign Contribution

On Wednesday, July 26, the US prosecutors stated that they would be dropping charges against disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried over unlawful campaign contributions.

In a letter to the court on Wednesday, US Attorney Damian 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”.

Bankman-Fried is facing multiple charges, including one related to campaign finance contributions, as he prepares for his trial in October. He contested the validity of five charges, arguing they weren’t part of the extradition agreement that led to his return to the US.

The government separated these charges from the upcoming trial, resulting in two separate cases. He also challenged another campaign finance charge, claiming it should be dismissed because it wasn’t included in the official documents approving his extradition from the Bahamas.

Normally, a person can only be charged for the crimes they were extradited for, but prosecutors claimed they could bring new charges with The Bahamas’ consent. However, The Bahamas has now informed the government that they didn’t plan to extradite Bankman-Fried for the campaign contribution charge, as mentioned in Williams’s letter.

FTX vs SBF

The new management undertaking FTX’s bankruptcy case has been going hammer and tongs after Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) to recoup a large of funds from his questionable transactions. Last week, FTX filed a complaint in the Delaware bankruptcy accusing SBF and his allies of fraudulent transactions that personally benefit them, and not the exchange.

Furthermore, SBF is set to face the court over the violation of the bail condition. According to reports, prosecutors raised a concern about witness tampering when SBF gave personal writings by Caroline Ellison to a New York Times reporter. Caroline, the former chief executive of a crypto hedge fund called Alameda Research, has already pleaded guilty and is expected to testify against SBF in the fraud case.

Prosecutors believe that SBF shared these documents to portray Caroline in a negative light and send a message to the media that she committed the crimes on her own. They think he may have done this to interfere with her testimony as a witness.