The criminal trial of FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried will go ahead on the eight counts for which he was initially indicted by US prosecutors, at least for now.
In a court on June 14 presentationUS Department of Justice (DoJ) prosecutors wrote a letter to U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan saying they would proceed to try Bankman-Fried in the eight counts imposed on him in December 2022.
Lawyers for the Department of Justice cited a motion filed by Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas, which argued that many of the 13 charges he faced were not in the original accusation, which was the basis for his extradition from the country. As this is likely to be a lengthy process, prosecutors wrote, they are "prepared to proceed to trial as scheduled on the charges contained in the original indictment."
"It now appears that litigation of that motion will take some time and may not be resolved until close to or even after the trial date."
On June 14, the Supreme Court of the Bahamas said Bankman-Fried must be given a chance to formally challenge the new charges before the country can accept them.
Following Bankman-Fried's extradition, the Justice Department opened a four additional charges in February in connection with charges of fraud and fraud conspiracy, along with a additional charge in March alleging bribes to Chinese officials.
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Bankman-Fried is the founder and former CEO of crypto exchange FTX. He was initially charged in December 2022 in connection with his handling of the failed exchange. The exchange suffered a liquidity crisis in November 2022, which led to its bankruptcy soon after.
FTX is estimated to owe creditors more than $3 billion. Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried mixed client funds and misled investors about FTX's risk management practices, resulting in losses for investors and clients.
Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of sister company Alameda Research, and FTX co-founder Gary Wang have pleaded guilty to fraud charges in connection with the exchange's collapse. However, Bankman-Fried has claimed that management errors and not fraud caused the collapse.
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