Lawyers for the founder of the collapsed FTX exchange, Sam Bankman-Fried, are seeking the court to drop many of the charges before the main process begins.
Lawyers are asking to reject almost all counts except conspiracy to defraud securities, commodities and money laundering.
Sam Bankman-Fried has filed motions to dismiss all but three charges in the criminal case against him.
The charges he is not contesting atm are:
5. Conspiracy to commit commodities fraud
6. Conspiracy to commit securities fraud
and
11. Conspiracy to commit money laundering pic.twitter.com/0Dk1zxEw4j— Molly White (@molly0xFFF) May 9, 2023
The defense notes that some of the accusations are duplicated or refer to the same article. Some points, according to lawyers, appeared after the extradition of Bankman-Fried to the United States. In total, they filed seven applications.
According to lawyers, the authorities “made too hasty conclusions” regarding the figure of the accused. They believe that the flaws that led to the collapse of FTX are common throughout the crypto market.
Lawyers also argue that the company’s failure is due to the heavy crypto winter, and not to credit manipulation and the inability to support the native FTT token.
“Like other market participants and many startups experiencing exponential growth in a short period, the company did not have fully developed controls and risk management protocols. […] FTX was subject to a wider collapse, like everyone else, ”the documents say.
The Bankman-Fried team claims that “every major player” in the crypto industry has “failed.” Lawyers also drew parallels to the 2008 financial crisis.
In December 2022, the US Department of Justice indicted the head of FTX on eight felony charges. He was arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the States, where he was released on $250 million bail.
In February 2023, prosecutors increased the number of charges against Bankman-Fried to 12, and in March to 13. He pleaded not guilty to any of the counts, including bribing a Chinese official.
Earlier, the former head of Alameda Research Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang repented of their deeds and agreed to cooperate with the investigation. Later, their example was followed CTO collapsed stock exchange Nishad Singh.
Recall that in April the court approved strict control over the mobile phones of Bankman-Fried and his parents while he is under house arrest.
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