SBF charged with new offences including illegal political deals

Prosecutors have declared a new indictment of Sam Bankman-Fried on four more criminal charges.

The document affirming these new indictments begins with the sentence "From 2019 to November 2022, Samuel Bankman-Fried, also referred to as 'SBF', the defendant, interfered with the operations of the cryptocurrency organisations he founded and supervised."

In addition to the original charges, prosecutors said SBF is also guilty of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to conduct an unlicensed money transmitter. SBF has previously been indicted by the US Southern District Court in New York for the following offences, including:

• Conspiracy to Defraud
• Conspiracy to Defraud Creditors
• Conspiracy to Defraud Commodities
• Conspiracy to Defraud Securities

In December, he was arrested in the Bahamas following the catastrophic collapse of the FTX trading empire. The industry is still dealing with the repercussions of the resulting financial losses and severe oversight.

Despite Bankman-Fried's assurances to those using FTX that their funds would be safe and kept separate, it has been alleged that the exchange routinely used customer assets to cover Bankman-Fried and Alameda's personal costs without interest, leaving users exposed to significant and undisclosed dangers. Moreover, while Bankman-Fried claimed that FTX had no connection to Alameda's cryptocurrency trading and investments, the truth is allegedly different.

In addition to FTX's functional problems, additional illegal donations are now described, with the indictment examining how SBF used others to contribute to political movements he did not want him or his corporate entities to be associated with.

"Bankman-Fried caused substantial contributions in support of candidates from both major political parties and various political positions," the document states. "However, Bankman-Fried did not want to be known as a left-wing supporter or publicly associated with Republican candidates.

In instances where he wished to conceal his connection to certain donations, Bankman-Fried and others colluded to cause such contributions to be made on behalf of FTX staff [CC-1 and CC-2].