U.S. withdraws new charges in Sam Bankman-Fried case, punts them to 2024

Federal prosecutors asked a justice connected Thursday to region 5 charges against alleged crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried, including bribery of a overseas authorities official, aft a Bahamas tribunal ruling formed uncertainty connected whether the U.S. authorities had followed the close process for bringing the charges against the erstwhile billionaire.

Bankman-Fried's ineligible squad had antecedently argued earlier some U.S. and Bahamanian judges that the charges were not portion of the FTX founder's archetypal indictment nether which helium had been extradited from the Bahamas months earlier. A Bahamian justice said they would reappraisal Bankman-Fried's arguments earlier this week, prompting the petition from national prosecutors.

The charges, however, person simply been "severed," oregon punted to 2024, giving the national authorities ample clip to guarantee the conditions of the U.S.-Bahamas extradition pact person been met, and to fulfill concerns from the Bahamas government.

The severance means that Bankman-Fried's ineligible squad volition apt present person to gird for 2 ineligible fights: 1 to effort the archetypal eight-count indictment aboriginal this year, and different successful 2024, for the 5 counts that national prosecutors person asked to sever.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams' bureau is prosecuting Bankman-Fried. He was primitively indicted connected 8 counts, including conspiracy to perpetrate message and ligament fraud, implicit his relation successful allegedly orchestrating the theft of billions of dollars of lawsuit assets and the illness of crypto speech FTX successful precocious 2022.

Bankman-Fried has entered a plea of not blameworthy and is expected to beryllium tried aboriginal this year.