Sam Bankman-Fried seeks dismissal of part of the charges

Lawyers for the founder of the collapsed FTX exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried, are seeking to have many charges dismissed ahead of the start of the main trial.

The lawyers request that almost all counts be dismissed, save for counts relating to conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, securities fraud and money laundering.

Sam Bankman-Fried has filed motions to dismiss all but three charges in the criminal case against him.

The charges he is not contesting atm are:
5. Conspiracy to commit commodities fraud
6. Conspiracy to commit securities fraud
and
11. Conspiracy to commit money laundering pic.twitter.com/0Dk1zxEw4j

— Molly White (@molly0xFFF) May 9, 2023

The defense notes that several charges duplicate others or relate to the same count. Some counts, according to the lawyers, appeared after Bankman-Fried’s extradition to the United States. In total they filed seven motions.

In their view, authorities have drawn too hasty conclusions about the defendant’s character. They argue that the failings that led to FTX’s collapse were widespread across the crypto market.

The lawyers also contend that the company’s collapse was tied to a severe crypto winter, not to credit manipulation and the failure to support the native FTT token.

«Like other market participants and many startups experiencing exponential growth in a short period, the company did not have fully developed controls and risk-management protocols. […] FTX was subjected to a broader crash, as were others», — the documents say.

The Bankman-Fried team argues that “every major participant” in the crypto industry “crashed.” Lawyers also drew parallels with the 2008 financial crisis.

In December 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice charged the head of FTX with eight criminal offenses. He were arrested in the Bahamas and released on $250 million bail.

In February 2023, prosecutors increased the number of charges against Bankman-Fried to 12, and in March — to 13. He pleaded not guilty to none of the counts, including bribery of a Chinese official.

Earlier, former Alameda Research head Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang pleaded guilty to the charges and agreed to cooperate with the investigation. Later, their example was followed CTO Nishad Singh, the CTO of the fallen exchange.

In April, the court approved strict monitoring of Bankman-Fried’s and his parents’ mobile phones while he remains under house arrest.