US prosecutors drop campaign finance charges against SBF

The US government said it confirmed that the Bahamas did not extradite Sam Bankman-Fried on an unlawful campaign contributions count

article-image

Isabelle OHara/Shutterstock, modified by Blockworks

share

The Department of Justice has dropped its plan to charge former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried with unlawful campaign contributions.

On Wednesday, US Attorney Damian Williams disclosed that the Bahamas informed the government of its decision not to extradite Bankman-Fried on this particular charge.

“Accordingly, in keeping with its treaty obligations to The Bahamas, the Government does not intend to proceed to trial on the campaign contributions count,” Williams said in a July 26 letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan.

Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas in December on request from the US government over the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.

The former FTX CEO was initially brought to the US facing eight charges, including a conspiracy to commit campaign finance violations.

The case expanded over time as prosecutors added five more counts in February, including securities fraud and conspiracy to violate anti-bribery laws, alleging a $40 million payment to influence Chinese officials.
But his counsel moved to dismiss many of those charges. As per the treaty between the two countries, the Bahamas must consent to any charges filed after extradition, as explained by the lawyers.

“After Mr. Bankman-Fried properly consented to a simplified extradition procedure, the Bahamian government agreed to release him to U.S. authorities and issued a warrant of surrender specifying that he be tried on seven of the eight counts in the Original Indictment –– but not the count relating to alleged campaign finance violations,” his lawyers wrote

On June 15, Judge Kaplan separated those charges from the October trial after the government agreed to sever some of the post-extradition counts for a later trial. This decision was made “in light of the uncertainty” over whether The Bahamas consented to those additional charges.

On June 27, Judge Kaplan rejected Bankman-Fried’s motions to dismiss 10 of the counts, which included allegations of campaign finance and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

As per Williams’ letter on Wednesday, the uncertainty from the Bahamas has now been resolved. 

The government has received confirmation that The Bahamas did not plan to extradite Bankman-Fried on the campaign contributions count, he said.

Judge issues gag-order for Bankman-Fried, considers jail time

The notification arrived shortly after a hearing Wednesday regarding Bankman-Fried’s purported efforts to discredit witnesses, including former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison.

On Wednesday, Prosecutor Danielle Sassoon urged the judge to order Bankman-Fried’s detention before the scheduled October trial, citing concerns that “no set of release conditions can ensure the safety of the community.”

Sassoon’s request to jail Bankman-Fried came after he shared Ellison’s personal writings with a New York Times reporter. In a Google document provided to the NYT, Ellison expressed feeling unhappy and overwhelmed with her job at Alameda, and questioned her suitability for the role.

In light of the request, Judge Kaplan imposed stricter bail conditions on Bankman-Fried, including limiting his public communication.

Kaplan stated he will evaluate the possibility of imprisonment before the October trial. Both sides have been given until Aug. 3 to present their opinion on whether jailing is necessary for Bankman-Fried.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Ethena Labs is leaping from its flagship synthetic dollar, USDe, to a full product suite—USDtb, iUSDe, and the Arbitrum-based Converge Chain—designed to marry crypto-native yields with TradFi-grade compliance. Our analysis shows how expanding into CME, ETF options, and tokenized Treasuries could lift protocol revenue from sub-$500 million in a bear case to several billion dollars if favorable regulation and institutional adoption align.

article-image

The L1’s Interwoven Stack is the most opinionated tech stack yet

article-image

Bitcoin is still rising, 11 years after the documentary film The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin

article-image

Arch Labs CEO told Blockworks that the team plans to launch a native token, but declined to give details

article-image

CEO Mike Silagadze tells Blockworks that the US is “open for business” and why its DeFi bank offering is the first of many

article-image

Doing one thing well and leaving everything else out is often what disruptive technologies do best