This Friday, Sam Bankman-Fried will appear in court to learn whether he will have to report to jail ahead of his trial scheduled for October. The Department of Justice (DOJ) has informed the judge overseeing the criminal trial that they intend to fold campaign-finance allegations into a wire fraud charge, after announcing they would have to drop the campaign-finance charge itself due to treaty obligations with the Bahamas.
That doesn’t mean the U.S. Department of Justice is letting the FTX founder off on alleged criminal conduct, however — and campaign-finance charges could still be tried later, said CoinDesk’s Nikhilesh De.
The DOJ is looking to bring the campaign-finance allegations, and it’s not going to let not being able to charge the specific statute be a barrier to doing so. Bankman-Fried’s team has yet to respond to the DOJ’s letter, but they will be heard from later on Friday.
Judge Lewis Kaplan, who is presiding in this case, has warned Bankman-Fried to take the proceedings seriously. CoinDesk will be at the New York District courthouse in Manhattan at 2 p.m. Eastern this afternoon to provide updates.