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US Prosecutors Drop Second Trial for Cryptocurrency Tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried | Cryptocurrency News
Prosecutors cite “strong public interest” in resolving high-profile case against disgraced cryptocurrency exchange founder.
US prosecutors have chosen not to launch a second trial for the founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX Sam Bankman Friedwho has already been found guilty of fraud and money laundering, and will be sentenced instead.
Prosecutors said in a letter filed Friday in a New York court that starting a second trial for the disgraced tycoon would only serve to delay the case against him, which is already quite strong.
“Given this practical reality and the strong public interest in a speedy resolution of this matter, the government intends to proceed to sentencing on the counts for which the defendant was convicted at trial,” prosecutors said in the letter to the judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over Bankman-Fried’s first criminal trial last year.
A jury in November found Bankman-Fried guilty seven counts of fraud, embezzlement and conspiracy, among other charges.
The 31-year-old was accused of using billions of dollars from client deposits on FTX to cover his hedge fund’s losses, pay off loans and buy luxury real estate, among other large personal expenses.
At the trial he admitted that he had made “mistakes” that ended up hurting people, but he pleaded not guilty to the charges as he claimed he never intended to steal.
Billions of dollars were lost after Bankman-Fried’s crimes came to light in 2022, something that also helped exacerbate the cryptocurrency market crisis that began earlier that year.
Federal prosecutors have previously described the case as “one of the largest financial frauds in American history.”
Bankman-Fried’s sentencing is scheduled for March 28, when she faces up to 110 years in prison.
Prosecutors argued that much of the evidence that could have been presented at a second trial had already been presented at the first trial and that a second trial would not affect the length of time he could spend in prison.
They also said victims would not benefit from confiscation or restitution orders if sentencing is delayed.
Bankman-Fried is expected to appeal his conviction.
He had previously been extradited from the Bahamas, where his companies were based.
The United States and the Bahamas have since clashed over which country’s prosecutor has legal jurisdiction and the right to prosecute him. U.S. prosecutors wrote on Friday that the U.S. government “has no timeline for when the Bahamas might respond to its request.”
Bankman-Fried, a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), has been in prison since August and his bond was revoked after a judge concluded he had likely tampered with potential trial witnesses.