Department of Justice Drops Charge Against Sam Bankman-Fried

The U.S. Department of Justice will not pursue campaign finance violation charges against alleged crypto scammer Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF).

“In a filing late Wednesday addressed to New York federal judge Lewis Kaplan, the DOJ said they had been informed that Bahamas ‘did not intend to extradite the defendant on the campaign contributions count,'” Forbes reports.

“The Government has been informed that The Bahamas notified the United States earlier today that The Bahamas did not intend to extradite the defendant on the campaign contributions count. Accordingly, in keeping with its treaty obligations to The Bahamas, the Government does not intend to proceed to trial on the campaign contributions count,” the filing states.

US Department of Justice has dropped all campaign finance charges against Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX. pic.twitter.com/v0bcHR2ISR

— HOT SPOT (@HotSpotHotSpot) July 27, 2023

SBF is accused of scamming funds from crypto customers to fund campaign contributions to U.S. politicians.

“Sam Bankman-Fried donated $93 million in stolen customer funds to US politicians. Today, the US Government dropped a political campaign finance criminal charge against SBF,” WatcherGuru wrote.

Sam Bankman-Fried donated $93 million in stolen customer funds to US politicians.

Today, the US Government dropped a political campaign finance criminal charge against SBF. pic.twitter.com/IJUwFbwjbO

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) July 27, 2023

From CoinDesk earlier this year:

Sam Bankman-Fried showered politicians with tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions before his FTX empire imploded in November. Now, the bankrupt crypto exchange wants that money back.

On Sunday, FTX Group said it is sending “confidential letters” to politicians and other political beneficiaries of Bankman-Fried, his deputies and his companies, asking them to return the money by the end of the month. In a press release the debtors said they “reserve the right” to try and force repayments – plus interest – through court action.

The announcement escalates a fight over as much as $93 million (according to the debtors’ estimates) in political donations FTX made to an array of Washington, D.C., lawmakers and causes across the political spectrum. One in three members of the current Congress received contributions from Bankman-Fried’s orbit, according to CoinDesk reporting. It was a monumental influence campaign that crossed party lines.

BREAKING: Campaign finance charges on Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX have been dropped.

This is unusual.

He gave millions to politicians.

And there wasn't a list of who which politicians and groups he gave money to.

Until now.

See it here: https://t.co/uK8CTsLugJ pic.twitter.com/SJwK7roMxm

— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) July 27, 2023

Let’s not forget that FTX was a complex money laundering operation involving Ukraine.

WATCH:

Don’t ever forget that Sam Bankman-Fried admitted that FTX was a crypto laundromat for the Ukrainian government.

Joe Biden gives Your taxpayer dollars to Ukraine.

Ukraine washes the money through FTX.

FTX CEO donates MILLIONS to Democrats.

Democrats steal elections. pic.twitter.com/CL8cALJo2X

— I Meme Therefore I Am 🇺🇸 (@ImMeme0) July 27, 2023

This image explains it perfectly:

🧐 pic.twitter.com/kS5ZWrfPfs

— Kim Dotcom (@KimDotcom) November 13, 2022

Read more about the FTX-Ukraine money laundering operation from our prior reporting:

FTX Money Laundering Scheme To Ukraine CONFIRMED?

According to Forbes, the campaign finance violation charge was among eight counts in the DOJ's original indictment.

Other charges included wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering.

However, do we expect our two-tiered justice system to give SBF anything more than a slap on the wrist?

From Forbes:

This is not the first instance where the terms of Bankman-Fried’s extradition treaty have impacted the charges brought against him. Last month, the DOJ informed Kaplan it was prepared to try Bankman-Fried on eight counts brought against the FTX founder in its original indictment in December last year—temporarily forgoing the five additional charges that were filed earlier this year. Under the terms of Bankman-Fried’s extradition, any additional charges brought against him would need to be approved by the Bahamian government. A court in the Bahamas has blocked the country’s government from approving the five additional charges—which include bank fraud, operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, and bribery—until his attorneys have a chance to fight them.

In May, Bankman-Fried’s attorneys asked the court to dismiss most criminal charges brought against him by federal prosecutors, arguing that they were “dramatic” and turned “civil and regulatory issues into federal crimes.” The FTX founder’s lawyers also blamed the company’s dramatic collapse on the “crypto winter” of 2022. FTX, which was once valued at $32 billion, collapsed in November last year after facing a liquidity crisis triggered by a selloff of its own FTT tokens. Late last month, Kaplan denied Bankman-Fried’s request to dismiss the charges, saying they “are either moot or without merit.”

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The New York Post added:

The now-dropped charge alleged that Bankman-Fried and his cohorts used tens of millions of dollars in FTX funds to illegally make over 300 donations to curry favor with candidates who could pass laws that would help his company.

Bankman-Fried — who is accused of stealing from customers of his now-defunct FTX cryptocurrency exchange — still faces 12 other charges in the case, though five more of the counts are still in question because they were added after he was extradited.

The Bahamas must also consent to the counts that were added after Bankman-Fried was sent back to the US. A judge ruled last month that trial will proceed in October on the original charges, and a separate proceeding was set for March 2024 on the charges that are up in the air.

Bankman-Fried is on home detention at his family’s house in California on $250 million bond as he awaits trial.

Separately on Wednesday, prosecutors asked a judge to jail Bankman-Fried claiming he engaged in witness tampering by giving a New York Times reporter the personal writings of his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison — who is slated to be a key witness against him at trial.