The Department of Justice still plans to file charges against Sam Bankman-Fried that he conducted an “illegal campaign finance” scheme when he goes on trial in October, the prosecutor said in the letter on August 8.
Two weeks earlier, the prosecutor said that they could not bring a campaign finance charge against Bankman-Fried. The charge was dropped by the DoJ because of the U.S. extradition treaty with the Bahamas.
According to the letter, the prosecutors will file a superseding indictment bringing seven charges against Bankman-Fried next week. These charges include wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The prosecutors are planning to fold the campaign finance charges into wire frauds.
“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,” the letter said.
As mentioned in the letter, the use of customer deposits to conduct a political influence campaign was part of the wire fraud scheme charged in the original indictment.
“And as part of the originally charged money laundering scheme, the defendant also concealed the source of his fraudulent proceeds through political straw donations. As the Government will outline in its forthcoming motions in limine [a pretrial motion], the evidence of the defendant’s campaign finance conduct is admissible at trial as direct proof of the Trial Charges,” said Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney.
Bankman-Fried is currently on trial that begins in October 2023, which would be 11 months after FTX filed for bankruptcy, and there is another trial scheduled for March 2024.
Also Read: DOJ Demands Jail for FTX Founder Until October Trial
