New York, Monday, July 31 (1 Min Read) – Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, may not have escaped campaign finance charges after all, reports said.
Prosecutors had withdrawn a campaign finance charge ahead of Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial this October.
The U.S. Department of Justice is not letting FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried off the hook, even though a campaign finance charge against him has been dropped. He could still be tried for campaign finance violations later.
Bankman-Fried is currently set to go on trial in October on seven charges, including wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. He will then go on trial again in March on five more charges, including bank fraud, operating an unlicensed money transmitter, and bribing foreign government officials.
The DOJ said in a letter last weeknight that it was withdrawing the charge due to extradition treaty obligations with the Bahamas, sparking speculation that he was being protected by political backers.
The SEC is reportedly investigating whether Bankman-Fried violated campaign finance laws by donating money to political candidates through a cryptocurrency exchange.
The SEC is looking into whether Bankman-Fried used FTX to donate money to candidates in violation of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), which prohibits corporations from making contributions to political campaigns.
Bankman-Fried has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyers have said that he did not violate any laws. However, the SEC’s investigation is ongoing, and it is possible that Bankman-Fried could face charges.
The investigation is the latest in a series of legal troubles for Bankman-Fried. In December 2022, he was sued by a former FTX employee who alleged that he created a “toxic work environment” at the company.
Bankman-Fried has also been criticized for his role in the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin. TerraUSD was a cryptocurrency that was supposed to be pegged to the U.S. dollar, but it lost its peg and collapsed in value in May 2022.
The collapse of TerraUSD caused billions of dollars in losses for investors, and it has raised questions about the regulation of cryptocurrencies.
It is unclear what the outcome of the SEC’s investigation will be. However, Bankman-Fried is facing several legal challenges.
