• Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the founder and former CEO of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, attempted to have several charges against him dismissed in court.
• Judge Lewis Kaplan of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York agreed to divide the charges into two different criminal trials.
• SBF’s defense team argued that various charges should be dismissed, but Judge Kaplan remained skeptical.
Attempt to Dismiss Charges
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the founder and former CEO of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, made an effort to have several charges against him dismissed in court. Although the defense team’s arguments faced skepticism from the US federal judge in New York, the judge did agree to divide the charges.
Division of Charges
NEW: Judge Lewis Kaplan has agreed to sever five charges from the superseding indictment against SBF, as prosecutors await “a specialty waiver from The Bahamas with respect to the prosecution of the defendant on charges first interposed after the date of defendant’s extradition.” pic.twitter.com/z0jHJSgJoV— David Gura (@davidgura) June 15, 2023 According to the judge’s decision,the government will treat some of thesecharges against Bankman-Fried as partof a different criminal trial. The decision was made this Thursday, June 15th by Judge LewisKaplan ofthe US District Court forthe SouthernDistrictofNewYorkHe ruled thatfiveofthechargesagainstSBFcould bebroughttotrialnextyearinMarchThistrialexpectedtostartthis fall.
Defense Team Arguments
SBF’s defense team made multiple attempts to dismiss various charges including campaign finance charge, wire fraud and bank fraud. Judge Kaplan questioned their request but did not grant it Speakingto oneofBankman- Fried’s attorneys he said thathewantedtocongratulatethem onan “extraordinarily imaginative defense”.The attorneyclaimedthatDoJwasattemptingtoinsertnewlegaltheoriesintotheprosecutionAnother attorneyMark Cohenclaimedthatthecampaignfinancecharge shouldbe dismissedon atechnicaldetailorseveralitwith otherchargesHeargued,”Theoperative documentinextradition isthewarrantofsurrenderItdoesnotlistthecampaignfinancecharge”CohenpointedoutthatBankman – FrieddidnotconsenttobeextraditedonthischargeHoweverthe prosecutorrespondedthattheextraditionrequestincludedthechargeThewarrantwasaddressedtotheBahamianpoliceandwhetheror notitincludedthechargethecourtwas awareofitTheseargumentsdidnotconvincethejudgeandheremainedequally skeptical
Conclusion
Judge Kaplan ultimately decided to divide certain charges so they can be tried at a later date in March 2024. However, his skepticism towards SBFs defense team was clear throughout proceedings as they attempted unsuccessfully to dismiss several key charges against SBF without any success or clarification yet on how far these new proceedings will go come next year’s trial date.
Takeaway
This ruling comes as a blow for SBFs legal team who were attempting a bold move that ultimately did not convince Judge Kaplan enough for him to rule in their favor or even provide clarity on what specific new developments could take place during next year’s trial date if any at all will occur then or later down line in future proceedings related this case