Fallen crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried will not face a second trial, lawyers say
By Ramishah Maruf, CNN
New York (CNN) — US prosecutors submitted a letter to a New York federal court Friday saying that they don’t plan to proceed with a second trial against Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of crypto exchange FTX.
Bankman-Fried was found guilty in November on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy related to FTX’s collapse.
Bankman-Fried was set to face a second trial in March on five additional charges that were severed from the original proceedings. A federal judge had asked prosecutors to decide by February 1 whether that would proceed.
Prosecutors on Friday said most of the evidence that would be presented against Bankman-Fried was already offered in the first trial.
Bankman-Fried is set to be sentenced in March 2024, where he faces up to 110 years in prison.
“Given that practical reality, and the strong public interest in a prompt resolution of this matter, the Government intends to proceed to sentencing on the counts for which the defendant was convicted at trial,” the letter from US Attorney Damian Williams said.
The letter also said that the sentencing “will likely include orders of forfeiture and restitution for the victims of the defendant’s crimes.”
A spokesman for Bankman-Fried declined to comment.
Bankman-Fried was previously extradited from the Bahamas, which has not yet granted consent for a trial on the remaining charges, “and the Government does not have a timeline for when The Bahamas may respond to its request,” prosecutors wrote.
The FTX saga was one of the most significant white-collar crime cases in recent memory since Bernie Madoff’s 2009 Ponzi scheme.
Bankman-Fried’s trial included 15 days of testimony and about four-and-a-half hours of juror deliberations.
Crypto’s former golden boy was found guilty of stealing billions of dollars from accounts belonging to customers of his once-high-flying crypto exchange FTX. He was also found guilty of defrauding lenders to FTX’s sister company, the hedge fund Alameda Research, which held FTX customer funds in a bank account.
Bankman-Fried additionally was found guilty of include defrauding investors in FTX and a money-laundering charge.
– CNN’s Allison Morrow contributed to this report.
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