The founder of the collapsed crypto-exchange FTX has requested the US court take back the criminal charges against him.
Sam Bankman-Fried, through his lawyer, appeared to argue in this new development that many cryptocurrency exchanges collapsed during a broad market crash in 2022 and that prosecutors hastily charged him in a rush to judgment, according to a filing in the Manhattan federal court on Monday, 8 May 2023.
«Rather than wait for traditional civil and regulatory processes following their ordinary course to address the situation, the Government jumped in with both feet, improperly seeking to turn these civil and regulatory issues into federal crimes,» his lawyers wrote as cited by «Reuters».
Previously, the federal prosecutors said Bankman-Fried stole billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to plug losses at Alameda, buy real estate, and make political contributions through an illegal straw-donor scheme. He was also charged with bribing Chinese officials.
Prosecutors have until 29 May 2023 to respond to this request, and U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan will hear arguments on 15 June 2023.
