The United States Attorney’s Office has launched a brand new superseding indictment against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, which includes allegations of campaign finance legislation violations as a part of a wire fraud scheme.
In an Aug. 14 submitting within the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams charged Bankman-Fried, who additionally goes by “SBF,” with seven counts practically an identical to these he had confronted upon arrival within the U.S. from the Bahamas in December 2022. However, following a authorized battle through which SBF’s protection workforce argued he shouldn’t face a cost for violation of campaign finance legal guidelines, because it was not included within the extradition settlement, prosecutors mentioned they might consider the scheme as evidence in a wire fraud cost.
According to the superseding indictment, Bankman-Fried “misappropriated and embezzled FTX customer deposits,” leading to greater than $100 million getting used “in campaign contributions to Democrats and Republicans to seek to influence cryptocurrency regulation.” Prosecutors alleged SBF additionally hid the supply of those contributions by inserting them within the names of sure FTX executives, together with former engineering director Nishad Singh.
“By directing donations through Singh and another FTX executive, Bankman-Fried was able to evade restrictions on certain types of political contributions, and thereby maximize FTX’s political influence,” mentioned the indictment. “He leveraged this influence, in turn, to lobby Congress and regulatory agencies to support legislation and regulation he believed would make it easier for FTX to continue to accept customer deposits and grow, which would, in turn, allow the misappropriation scheme to continue.”
Prior to the collapse of FTX in November 2022, SBF said he had been planning to donate between $100 million and $1 billion to political campaigns influencing the 2024 elections. He donated greater than $5 million to then-presidential candidate Joe Biden for his 2020 campaign and said he had been a “significant donor” to each Democratic and Republican candidates.
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The superseding indictment was the newest within the prices Bankman-Fried faces since his extradition to the U.S. in December 2022. Prosecutors initially charged SBF with eight counts associated to fraud at FTX — together with conspiracy to violate campaign finance legal guidelines — later submitting a superseding indictment in February with 12 counts, then one other superseding indictment in March with 13 counts, adding one for allegedly bribing a Chinese authorities official.
Bankman-Fried had been free on bail earlier than Judge Lewis Kaplan remanded him to custody on Aug. 11, citing issues about alleged makes an attempt to intimidate or affect witnesses in his felony circumstances. His two trials are scheduled to start in October 2023 and March 2024.
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