US prosecutors drop another charge against Sam Bankman-Fried

Earlier, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan dropped another charge against SBF, for breaching anti-bribery statutes

US Federal prosecutors dropped a campaign finance charge against Sam Bankman-Fried, the second time they have reduced the charge against the founder of crypto exchange FTX.

Prosecutors told Judge Lewis Kaplan on Wednesday that they were dropping the charge of conspiracy to make illegal campaign contributions as they had failed to get authorisation from the government of the Bahamas for that charge when SBF was repatriated from the country in December.

Earlier, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan dropped another charge against SBF, for breaching anti-bribery statutes, on the same grounds.

The moves lessen the criminal exposure of Bankman-Fried, who prosecutors allege conspired to deceive investors and customers out of billions. The alleged scheme brought about the failure of FTX and sent shockwaves across the crypto industry.

Prosecutors had alleged that Bankman-Fried channelled hundreds of millions of dollars in bipartisan campaign financing through two unnamed co-conspirators to circumvent campaign contribution restrictions. The charge could have increased SBF’s imprisonment by two to five years, if convicted.

In their letter Wednesday to Kaplan in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, prosecutors stated that the Government has been informed that The Bahamas notified the US earlier today that The Bahamas did not intend to repatriate the defendant on the campaign contributions count.

Consequently, in keeping with its treaty obligations to The Bahamas, the Government doesn’t intend to proceed to trial on the campaign contributions count, prosecutors added.

Since SBF’s detention and extradition, civil and criminal charges have been brought against a number of exchanges, advisors and individuals for crypto-related schemes. Former executives at FTX, including top aides Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, have all pleaded guilty to federal charges. They are cooperating with the government’s prosecution against SBF, who is expected to face trial in October this year.