Sam Bankman-Fried Asks Court To Toss Most FTX Criminal Charges

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced crypto executive and founder of the controversial business FTX, has asked a U.S. judge to dismiss the majority of the criminal charges against him over the collapse of his crypto empire last year.

In documents filed in a Manhattan federal court earlier this week, lawyers at Cohen & Gresser LLP, the law firm representing Bankman-Fried, accused U.S. prosecutors of "troubling" and "classic rush to judgment."

In the two-page motion, Bankman-Fried lawyers claimed that the government did not even wait to receive "millions of documents" and "other evidence" against their client before "improperly seeking" to turn "civil and regulatory issues into federal crimes."

"Rather than wait for traditional civil and regulatory processes following their ordinary course to address the situation, the Government jumped in with both feet, improperly seeking to turn these civil and regulatory issues into federal crimes," Bankman-Fried's lawyers said.

In the motion to dismiss, Bankman-Fried's team requested the court for an oral argument so the embattled executive could "clear his name" and "fight these baseless charges" and asked to dismiss 10 of the 13 charges, claiming that prosecutors failed to substantiate most of their claims.

The lawyers argued that four of the counts, which include foreign bribery charge, a campaign finance charge and a bank fraud charge, violated the extradition process between the U.S. and the Bahamas.

"Bankman-Fried now faces charges on four counts that were not encompassed by the counts listed in the Bahamas's Warrant of Surrender and to which the Bahamas has not consented," the court filings read.

The other six charges, according to the defense, should also be dismissed since they have "legal flaws" and are "too vague." It alleged that prosecutors showed "eagerness to run up charges against Mr. Bankman-Fried."

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan previously alleged that Bankman-Fried misled FTX investors and lenders, stole billions of dollars in customers' funds, purchased real estate and made political donations using an illegal straw donor scheme, among many others.

Prosecutors also charged Bankman-Fried with bribing Chinese officials. The disgraced crypto executive has pleaded not guilty to fraud and conspiracy and is currently out on bail. He is under house arrest at his parent's Palo Alto home and is waiting for his first trial scheduled for Oct. 2.

Prior to the historic collapse of FTX, the 31-year-old crypto executive was one of the most influential figures in the nascent industry and had an estimated net worth of $26 billion.

He was also known for his effective altruism campaign and became a huge name known to major political parties in the U.S. because of his contributions before the spectacular collapse of his empire in November.