Judge Allows Prosecution To Present Evidence Of Sam Bankman-Fried's Political Donations

As the first trial of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) approaches, the judge has allowed prosecutors to discuss the crypto mogul's political donations, since contributions are relevant to the fraud charges he is currently facing.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan on Tuesday ruled that political donations made by Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of the now-bankrupt crypto empire FTX, "intertwined inextricably with the evidence regarding the charged wire fraud scheme on customers of FTX." As SBF faces charges of defrauding clients by embezzling billions in deposits, Judge Kaplan deemed the evidence related to these donations as "necessary to complete the story of the charged crimes on trial."

Additionally, Judge Kaplan noted that the revelation of the defendant utilizing FTX customer funds for political contributions is "direct evidence of the wire fraud scheme." He said that this evidence is essential in establishing Bankman-Fried's motive and alleged fraudulent intent.

"Proof that defendant routed political contributions through straw donors goes directly to the element of concealment for the charged money laundering count and is probative of defendant's criminal intent and knowledge of the wire fraud scheme," he said.

The judge's decision was a part of a series of his rulings in a 16-page pretrial order Tuesday, where he formalized the evidence admissible in court during Bankman-Fried's fraud trial next month.

Federal prosecutors previously charged Bankman-Fried with conspiring to break U.S. campaign finance laws. However, they dropped the campaign finance charge in July after the Bahamas, the country where the crypto mogul was arrested, informed the court that the charge was not a part of the agreement to extradite him.

"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 counts," Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, wrote in a letter to the court.

In August, prosecutors filed a new indictment against the 31-year-old crypto mogul and charged him with fraud, accusing him of stealing $100 million from FTX customers to make campaign donations.

At the time, the Department of Justice said it was "prevented by its treaty obligations to the Bahamas" from including an eighth count to Bankman-Fried's indictment on violations of campaign finance law, but would consider evidence of the alleged scheme as part of a wire fraud charge against the defendant.

"The superseding indictment will make clear that Mr. Bankman-Fried remains charged with conducting an illegal campaign finance scheme as part of the fraud and money laundering schemes originally charged," Williams said in a letter to Judge Kaplan dated Aug. 8