A Bahamas court on Tuesday temporarily barred the country’s government from agreeing to let US prosecutors pursue part of their criminal case against Sam Bankman-Fried, the indicted founder of now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
Those charges were not in Bankman-Fried’s initial eight-count indictment last December, which focused on the collapse of FTX the previous month, but they were added after his extradition.
The Bahamas Supreme Court said the country’s foreign affairs minister and attorney general could not consent to the new charges until Bankman-Fried had a formal chance to object.
In papers filed late Monday in Manhattan federal court, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers said a sixth charge alleging US campaign finance violations should also be dismissed because the Bahamas did not consent to it.
His lawyers want the six charges dismissed, or tried separately from charges of stealing from customers and lying to investors and lenders.
Persons:
Sam Bankman, FTX, Fried, Loren Klein, Lewis Kaplan
Organizations:
US, Prosecutors
Locations:
Manhattan, Caribbean, Bankman, Bahamas, United States