Prosecutors will still consider Sam Bankman-Fried's alleged campaign finance scheme at trial

Rather than reinstating a tally of campaign finance violations to the SBF indictment, the Justice Department has said he would review evidence as part of a wire fraud charge.

The United States Attorney's Office has announced another replacement indictment against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as "SBF", which will include the review of an allegedly illegal campaign finance scheme.

In an August 8 letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said the Department of Justice (DoJ) plans to pursue seven counts against SBF in his trial, which is due start in October. Although the DoJ said it was "precluded by its treaty obligations to the Bahamas" from adding an eighth count to SBF's indictment for violating campaign finance law, the Prosecutors would examine evidence of the alleged scheme as part of an existing wire fraud charge. p>

"The replacement indictment will make clear that Mr. Bankman-Fried remains charged with conducting an unlawful campaign finance scheme as part of the fraud and money laundering schemes originally charged," said Williams. “The defendant's use of client deposits to conduct a political influence campaign was part of the wire fraud scheme charged in the original indictment. And as part of the initially accused money laundering scheme, the accused also concealed the source of his fraudulent income through political straw donations. »

Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas in December 2022 and later extradited to the United States to face charges related to the collapse of crypto exchange FTX. DoJ officials initially announced eight counts against the former FTX CEO, then added five more in separate replacement indictments in February and March 2023.

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