 used over $100 Million stolen customer money to fund a political campaign during the mid-term){kind=link}
- SBF donated over $100 Million in political donations during the 2022 U.S. mid-term elections.
- These donations invited fresh charges against SBF, extending his jail time significantly.
It was recently revealed that Sam Bankman Fried (SBF) used over $100 Million stolen customer money to fund a political campaign during the mid-term. The prosecutors have filed a new indictment against the former crypto white knight. This scenario pushes him on a tumultuous journey behind bars for a long time.
Sam Bankman Fried: The Crypto White Knight Faces the Gavel
After the infamous FTX-saga, SBF has been in the limelight for conspiring the biggest fraud in the crypto industry. Once, the world’s third-largest crypto exchange filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2022, sweeping billions of dollars. After a brief period in the Bahamas Fox-Hill prison, Sam was extradit to the U.S. and kept under house arrest on a 250 Million bond.
On August 11, 2023, the court revoked the bail and ordered the authorities to put the 31-year-old billionaire behind bars for alleged witness tampering. He faced multiple charges and pleaded not guilty to most of them. Experts argue that he could be behind bars for the rest of his life if convicted.
During the 2022 mid-term election of the United States, Sam Bankman Fried became one of the prominent donors for both the Democrats and the Republicans. He was allegedly lobbying for the upcoming crypto regulation bill. He spent over $100 Million allegedly stolen from the users during that time.
However, the politicians who benefited from the donation agreed to return the amount to avoid the issue. The recent charges pressed against SBF on August 14, 2023, include seven different counts of conspiracy and fraud.
There are reports accusing him of misusing and directing customers’ money from Alameda Research to company executives’ personal bank accounts. From these accounts, political donations in question were made in an attempt to “maximize FTX’s political influence.” SBF then tried to leverage this influence to lobby Congress. And regulatory bodies to support upcoming crypto regulations.
The indictment also asserts that Sam Bankman Fried believed that the lobbying efforts would allow FTX to keep accepting customers’ deposits and grow without limitations.
The Bahamian Factor That Affected SBF’s Jail Time
On June 12, 2023, SBF and his legal team filed a pretrial motion to dismiss most of the 13 charges counts before the trial began in October 2023. The drop was due to the counts mentioned at the time of his extradition from the Bahamas. It should be note that SBF was arrest by the Bahamian authorities on December 13, 2022, and was brought to the U.S. as per the extradition treaty.
SBF’s attorney argued to drop the charges, which were not part of the extradition treaty. These include bribing Chinese officials and violating financial laws during U.S. mid-term elections. They should be dropped because they were not mention in the extradition documents.
The prosecutors argued that the treaty could not prevent the United States from adding more charges under the condition that the convict, in this case. Sam Bankman Fried, is not “detain punish for the add charges, without taking the consent from the extraditing country. In this case, the Bahamas.
SBF Will Now Face Two Trials As the Count is Too High for One
The trial for the infamous FTX-saga and other counts against Sam Bankman Fried is schedule to begin on October 2, 2023. Considering the gravity and the number of charges, the court has decided to split the trial. The first trial will begin as planned on October 2, 2023, while the remaining charges are schedule to commence on March 11, 2024.
However, it is yet to be discover if the additional charges of witness tampering and the recently add seven counts will be address in the first or the second trial. But one thing is for sure. SBF will be facing a long time behind bars, providing closure to all the affected investors.
