The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has decided to move forward with the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO and founder of FTX. However, the trial will only involve the original eight charges filed in December 2022, which include wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering.
This decision comes after a court in the Bahamas intervened and prevented the local government from agreeing to additional charges.
Bankman-Fried is facing 13 charges, with five of them added through superseding indictments in February and March 2023.
On June 13, a court in the Bahamas ruled against the government’s approval of the additional charges, granting Bankman-Fried’s defense team the opportunity to contest the decision.
US Attorney Damian Williams and his team addressed this development in a letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, stating that the ongoing legal battle in the Bahamas may continue until near the commencement of Bankman-Fried’s trial in the US.
Among the charges in the latest superseding indictment that will not be pursued in the immediate trial include fraud on FTX customers tied to derivatives, securities fraud against FTX investors, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitter business, and conspiracy to bribe foreign government officials.