Bankman-Fried won’t face second trial on remaining charges

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Fallen cryptocurrency king Sam Bankman-Fried won’t face a second trial on additional charges after the co-founder of FTX was convicted of a massive fraud last month, prosecutors told a judge.

The government told US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in a letter on Friday that in the interest of expediency it would drop plans to try Bankman-Fried for conspiracy to bribe foreign officials, commit bank fraud, and operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, among other charges.

Bankman-Fried, 31, was found guilty of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy and faces the possibility of decades in prison.

Prosecutors said in the letter that the Bahamas, which extradited Bankman-Fried to face the original US charges, has yet to consent to the US going ahead with trying him on the additional charges. Such consent is required under treaty obligations but the former FTX chief executive officer launched a legal challenge in the Bahamas earlier this year, prompting the US to split the case in two.

The government said much of the evidence that would be presented at a second trial was already introduced at Bankman-Fried’s original trial and can be considered by the judge at sentencing set for March 28.

“Proceeding with sentencing in March 2024 without the delay that would be caused by a second trial would advance the public’s interest in a timely and just resolution of the case,” according to the letter.

A spokesperson for Bankman-Fried declined to comment.

Prosecutors said Bankman-Fried directed the transfer of FTX customer money into Alameda Research, an affiliated hedge fund, for risky investments, political donations and expensive real estate before both companies collapsed into bankruptcy last year.

The verdict was a big victory for Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams in the highest-profile criminal prosecution in the crypto world, and marked a dizzying fall for Bankman-Fried from early 2022 when FTX was valued at $32 billion.

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