NEW YORK, Dec 29 (Reuters) - U.S.
prosecutors said they do not plan to conduct a second trial against Sam
Bankman-Fried, who was convicted last month of stealing from customers
of his now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
In
a letter filed on Friday night in federal court in Manhattan,
prosecutors said the "strong public interest" in a prompt resolution of
their case against the 31-year-old former billionaire outweighed the
benefits of a second trial.
Prosecutors
said that interest "weighs particularly heavily here," given that
Bankman-Fried's scheduled March 28, 2024, sentencing will likely include
orders of forfeiture and restitution for victims of his crimes.
Jurors
on Nov. 2 convicted Bankman-Fried on all seven fraud and conspiracy
counts he faced. Prosecutors had accused him of looting $8 billion from
FTX customers out of sheer greed.
Lawyers for Bankman-Fried declined to comment.
Bankman-Fried had faced six additional charges
that had been severed from his first trial, including campaign finance
violations, conspiracy to commit bribery, and conspiracy to operate an
unlicensed money transmitting business.
SCREECH..... HUH??
Read that again:
Bankman-Fried had faced six additional charges
that had been severed from his first trial, including campaign finance
violations, conspiracy to commit bribery, and conspiracy to operate an
unlicensed money transmitting business.
Now why would they separate those charges?? Inquiring minds want to know.....
Could it be that there were campaign
irregularities that the
U.S. prosecutors did not want to be made public?
Let's rewind to December 2022 <<<<<<<<<
/snip
Disgraced FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried faces a litany of
charges tied to the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange. But along with
being an outsized figure in crypto, Bankman-Fried (nicknamed SBF) is also one
of the largest political donors in American politics, and has been accused of
violating campaign finance laws as part of a scheme to illegally funnel
millions of dollars to candidates and political action groups ahead of the 2022
midterm elections.
/snip
Bankman-Fried contributed more than $70 million to election
campaigns in less than 18 months, placing him among the nation’s top political
donors. He personally gave at least $40 million to politicians and political
action committees ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, mostly to Democrats and
liberal-leaning groups, making him the second overall top donor to Democrats,
only behind George Soros, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
/snip
Other lawmakers that received maximum donations from
Bankman-Fried include Democratic Senators Kirsten Gillibrand of New York,
Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, and Cory Booker of New Jersey; and Republican
Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine.
/snip
In total, federal election filings show that Stabenow and
Hassan were the candidates to receive the most money directly from
Bankman-Fried this year, at over $20,000 each.
Nah, ‘Trust the science’.
Nothing to see here.... Move along......
H/t to PS
