Is SBF joking? Afraid of affecting the election? The Department of Justice withdraws illegal political donation charges against SBF.
US prosecutors stated that they have received notification from the Bahamian government that the illegal political donation charges against SBF were not included in the extradition agreement documents, so the Department of Justice will withdraw those charges.
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SBF Successfully Reduces Criminal Charges
SBF initially faced eight criminal charges last December, which were later increased to a total of 13:
Recap: Adding four more charges, a comprehensive look at SBF's criminal charges
However, according to a report by Bloomberg, U.S. prosecutor Damian Williams wrote to the court on July 26, stating that in order to fulfill obligations under the extradition agreement with the Bahamian government, the charges against SBF for "illegal political donations and defrauding the Federal Election Commission" will be dropped.
He mentioned that this decision was made after SBF argued that these charges were not part of the extradition agreement.
In addition, SBF has challenged the validity of five out of the 13 charges, arguing that these charges are not part of the extradition agreement.
Prosecutor Notified by Bahamian Authorities
Damian Williams stated that his office received notification from the Bahamian government that campaign donations were not one of the reasons for extraditing SBF to the U.S.
However, he mentioned that if they obtain consent from the Bahamian authorities, they will be able to re-indict SBF.
Crypto Community: Is SBF Too Big to Fail?
Autism Capital, known for interpreting cryptocurrency news in a humorous way, tweeted:
The federal campaign donation charges against SBF have been dropped by the Department of Justice because it would prevent too many officials from participating in the 2024 election. This reason is really crazy; SBF seems to be creating a situation where it's too big to fail and end up behind bars.
Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX having a federal campaign contribution charge dropped by the DOJ because it would incriminate too many of their preferred politicians going into the 2024 election is pretty insane. Sam really was on the road to being too big to fail/jail.
— Autism Capital 🧩 (@AutismCapital) July 27, 2023
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