Prosecutors charged disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried on Monday with using $100 million in stolen customer funds to donate to mostly Democrats during the 2022 midterm elections.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan had initially charged Bankman-Fried with violating campaign finance laws, but dropped that charge after the Bahamas would not extradite the former tech CEO over that charge.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (second on left) is led away in handcuffs by officers of the Royal Bahamas Police Force in Nassau, Bahamas, on December 13, 2022. (MARIO DUNCANSON/AFP via Getty Images)
Last week, prosecutors said that they would soon file a new charge that will “make clear that Mr. Bankman-Fried remains charged with conducting an illegal campaign finance scheme as part of the fraud and money laundering schemes originally charged.”
The new indictment charges Bankman-Fried with seven counts of conspiracy and fraud relating to the collapse of the digital currency exchange FTX.
Bankman-Fried has previously pled not guilty, and his spokesman, Mark Botnick, declined to comment regarding the new indictments.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyer said he needs access to medications to treat his depression and attention hyperactive disorder (ADHD) while he is in jail.
His lawyer wrote, “Without these medications, Mr. Bankman-Fried will experience a return of his depression and ADHD symptoms, which will severely impact his ability to assist in his own defense.”
A judge had revoked his bail over concerns that he had engaged in witness tampering.
“There is probable cause to believe that the defendant has attempted to tamper with witnesses at least twice,” said U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan at a hearing in New York.
“The founder, often known as “SBF,” used his wealth to become a Democrat super-donor, and was the second-largest contributor to Joe Biden’s campaign in 2020. Scarcely 30 years old, the crypto baron had ambitions to displace George Soros as the largest donor to Democrats and Democrat causes,” Breitbart News’s Allum Bokhari reported.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.
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