DOJ Shall Not Pursue Campaign Finance Charge Against SBF

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has reportedly decided not to pursue a campaign finance charge against Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) in connection with his extradition from the Bahamas.

This is not the first time that the terms of his extradition treaty have influenced the charges against him. Previously, the DOJ indicated its readiness to prosecute him on eight counts from the original indictment in December of the previous year, temporarily setting aside five additional charges brought later.

However, under the extradition terms, any new charges would require approval from the Bahamian government. A court in the Bahamas has prevented the government from approving these additional charges, which include bank fraud, operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, and bribery, until various lawyers are given a chance to challenge them.

In May, SBF had his legal team request the court to dismiss most of the criminal charges, arguing that they were exaggerated and turned what should be civil and regulatory matters into federal crimes. The charges also attributed the collapse of FTX to the infamous 2022 crypto winter.

FTX also previously faced a liquidity crisis after experiencing a selloff of its own FTT tokens. Despite SBF pleaing to dismiss the charges, the court, presided by Judge Kaplan, denied the request, stating that the arguments presented were either irrelevant or lacked merit.