US seeks Bahamas’ approval to proceed with FTX Bankman-Fried charges after extradition

Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas last year and extradited to the United States. He faces multiple charges related to financial fraud and the collapse of FTX, the company he was involved with. He is accused of engaging in illegal activities such as working with former FTX executives to persuade American legislators to pass legislation that would benefit FTX. In doing so, he exceeded the maximum contribution amounts allowed by law, leading to allegations of making illegal political contributions and bank fraud.

Bankman-Fried is also accused of paying off a foreign government to unfreeze brokerage accounts linked to his hedge fund, money laundering, and running an unlicensed money transfer operation.

Lawyer Argues for Dropping 10 out of 13 Charges for Bankman-Fried

Bankman-Fried’s legal counsel has filed a motion in the United States Court to have the charges against him dismissed. According to his lawyer, many of the offenses were not sufficiently specified. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to all 13 charges, and his lawyer is seeking the dismissal of ten of them.

The defense argues that Bankman-Fried can only be prosecuted on the specific grounds for which he was extradited, and that the US government added unrelated criminal charges without the consent of the Bahamas government. The US government disagrees, stating that there are no limitations on bringing new accusations against a defendant after extradition under the terms of the agreement between the United States and the Bahamas.

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The US Justice Department is seeking a waiver from the Bahamas government in order to move forward with particular aspects of the case. The charges will move forward as planned if the waiver is approved, but if it is denied, the US Department of Justice will be forced to drop the new cases and concentrate only on the accusations that prompted Bankman-Fried’s extradition. A court hearing will be held on June 15 to discuss the motion to drop ten of the charges against Bankman-Fried.

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