Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of crypto exchange FTX, has been granted a delay in the additional charges levied against him in the U.S. after a Tuesday Bahamas Supreme Court judgment allowed him to judicially review the terms of his extradition from the Caribbean. The FTX founder has been under legal scrutiny since the collapse of his exchange in November, with U.S. prosecutors asking for more charges to be added including bank fraud and bribery. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has sought to dismiss many of them, particularly the right to challenge the Bahamas government’s decision to add extras to the charge sheet.
Bahamas Supreme Court Judge Loren Klein granted Bankman-Fried’s request, saying “Leave is granted to the claimant to commence proceedings for judicial review. All of the grounds advanced by the claimants disclose arguable claims with a real prospect of success.” Klein also stated that the Bahamas government cannot add the additional offenses until the legal process has finished, and that the review should take place “in an expedited manner.”
Mark Cohen, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer, said he “intends to file an application for judicial review as directed by the Supreme Court and to continue pursuing his legal rights in The Bahamas.” Cohen has previously warned that legal measures in the Bahamas could take “months or years,” pushing them beyond the planned October U.S. trial date, or meaning he doesn’t have enough time to prepare a defense to the extra charges.