Sam Bankman-Fried to have campaign donation charge dropped

United States prosecutors have indicated their intention to dismiss a charge against Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of FTX. The charge alleged that he was involved in a conspiracy to make illegal campaign contributions.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams conveyed in a letter to District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan on July 26 that The Bahamas, where Bankman-Fried is located, declined to extradite him on this particular charge. As a result, the prosecutors have decided not to proceed with the charge.

“The Bahamas did not intend to extradite the defendant on the campaign contributions count,” Williams wrote in the letter. “In keeping with its treaty obligations to The Bahamas, the Government does not intend to proceed to trial on the campaign contributions count.”

The government has separated the charge, along with other charges, into a distinct trial scheduled for March 2024. Additionally, Bankman-Fried is set to undergo a criminal trial in October.

Following the dropping of the specific charge mentioned earlier, the former FTX chief will now be confronting a total of 12 charges. These charges encompass allegations of fraud, fraud conspiracy, money laundering, and bribing Chinese officials.

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