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(Kitco News) - The criminal charges against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) have been split up into two separate cases after lawyers for the disgraced FTX co-founder attempted to have multiple charges dropped due to the fact that they were filed after he had already been extradited to the U.S.
Court documents filed in the Southern District Court in New York on May 8 show that SBF’s legal team sought to dismiss 10 out of the 13 criminal charges filed against the exchange co-founder, arguing that some of the additional charges were added after SBF agreed to be extradited, which violates the Treaty’s rule of specialty provision.
The only charges his lawyers did not seek to dismiss were conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, though Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to those charges as well.
In an effort to help speed up the proceedings, the court has elected to split the 13 charges that SBF faced into two separate trials, with the five charges that were filed after he was extradited now set to go to trial on March 11, 2024, according to a Thursday ruling from United States District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan.
Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors have requested a waiver from Bahamian authorities to try SBF on the five additional changes they imposed after his extradition from the country.
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On Wednesday, DOJ lawyers filed court documents stating their intentions to try Bankman-Fried on the original eight charges while they wait for the approval of their waiver in an effort to avoid a lengthy process.
The new trial in March will focus on the charges of bribery conspiracy, conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business, bank fraud conspiracy, and derivatives and securities fraud.
As for the initial eight charges, the trial for those will take place during the originally scheduled date of October 2. These charges relate to various wire, derivates, and securities fraud and conspiracy allegedly carried out at FTX and Alameda Research, along with accusations of money laundering.
