Sam Bankman-Fried Asks the Bahamas to Dismiss Post-Extradition Charges

Disgraced cryptocurrency executive Sam Bankman-Fried is asking the Bahamian court to dismiss certain charges levied against him by the U.S. government after his extradition from the island nation last December.

On Tuesday (June 13) The Wall Street Journal reported that the founder of the FTX crypto exchange is trying to get some charges dropped, writing: “U.S. prosecutors need consent from the Bahamas to proceed with charges that were added after Bankman-Fried was transferred to U.S. custody. Bankman-Fried on Tuesday persuaded a Bahamian court to temporarily block the nation’s attorney general from making a decision on that consent for now. Bankman-Fried is seeking an opportunity to make arguments in the Bahamas that some of the charges are improper.”

In May, U.S. prosecutors said, “The government will proceed on the new charges … if The Bahamas consents to trial on these charges, and will not proceed on those counts if The Bahamas denies the Government’s request.”

As reported by WSJ, “Prosecutors initially charged Bankman-Fried with eight counts, including several fraud charges, a money-laundering conspiracy and conspiring to violate campaign-finance law in a scheme to mask political donations. Since his arrival from the Bahamas, prosecutors have added more charges, including allegations that Bankman-Fried conspired to commit bank fraud and bribe a Chinese official.”

In early June, PYMNTS reported, “Since being extradited to the U.S. from the Bahamas, new charges have been brought against Bankman-Fried that include securities fraud and conspiracy to violate anti-bribery laws — and his lawyers are claiming that, as the latter charges were not a part of the original extradition agreement, they should be dismissed.”

Bankman-Fried’s legal team filed a motion on May 30 “laying the groundwork for a defense arguing [he] was just following the advice of his law firm, Fenwick & West, rather than knowingly committing criminal actions. Proving that Bankman-Fried knowingly acted illegally is a necessary element for many of the criminal charges brought against him by the DOJ.”

Meanwhile, SBF’s legal team made court filings on Monday (June 12) related to appealing the added charges should the Bahamas consent to him being tried on the charges filed after his extradition.