Sam Bankman-Fried Files to Dismiss Almost All Charges

As Sam Bankman-Fried awaits his trial this fall with Doordash as his only solace, his lawyers are busy trying to make it as easy as possible.

After his antics nearly caused his bail to be voided, eventually getting him banned from playing video games and most of the internet, SBF lawyers have spent countless hours thinking of ways to facilitate a trial that could keep him out for a long time.

Attempt to drop most fraud charges

On May 8th, SBF lawyers filed a follow-up of the two Pretrial notes Notifying the courts that Sam Bankman Fred is trying to drop some of the charges stacked against him.

According to the official movement footSBF attorneys are asking that the charges of bribery, fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and operating an unlicensed money carrier be dismissed.

The motion also called for charges of improper political contributions – which conflicted with previous attempts by Sam Bankman-Fried to return money from said political contributions – to be dropped.

SBF “does not admit” certain charges

According to the SBF legal team, the motion to dismiss the above charges is contingent on his voluntary extradition to the United States from the Bahamas. If the SBF agrees to extradite to face trial for certain crimes, the attorneys argue that filing additional charges retroactively runs counter to US court precedent.

Thus, the express terms of the extradition treaty required that the Government obtain the express consent of the Bahamas to prosecute Mr Bankman-Fred on any new charges brought after the extradition of Mr Bankman-Fred – and silence is not sufficient for consent. (…) The Defense understands that the Government The Bahamas has been notified of the new charges added in Indictment S3 and S5, but The Bahamas has not accepted these charges.”

It will be interesting to see how this movement reconciles with the information so willingly provided by FTX Group. Since both Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison have plea deals with the US government, prosecutors should have plenty of ammunition to bring new charges against the SBF.

Ultimately, that request could lead to the charges being removed from the trial set for October 2nd — only to be filed again at another hearing soon after.