Prosecutors just announced, in a letter filed on Friday night in federal court, that they do not plan on conducting a second trial against now-infamous FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried (SBF) over illegal political donations and bribery of foreign officials. They cited public interest in a speedy case resolution as their reason for not prosecuting him to the fullest extent, but many conservatives were outraged and alleged an attempt at covering up his paid-for influence was underway.
In the Friday night letter to the Manhattan federal court, the U.S. prosecutors argued that there is a public interest to be served in promptly resolving the case against SBF so that restitution can be made to his victims. That would mean that he would not face six additional charges that had been severed from the main trial, which will begin in March. Those include campaign finance violations, conspiracy to commit bribery, and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
In the letter, the prosecutors said they do “not plan to proceed with a second trial” because “much of the evidence that would be offered in a second trial was already offered in the first trial and can be considered by the Court at the defendant’s March 2024 sentencing.”
Continuing, they went on to add, “Given that practical reality, and the strong public interest in a prompt resolution of this matter, the Government intends to proceed to sentencing on the counts for which the defendant was convicted at trial.”
Concluding, the letter said, “The interest in avoiding delay weighs particularly heavily here, where the judgment will likely include orders of forfeiture and restitution for the victims of the defendant’s crimes. The Government has concluded that the public interest in a prompt resolution of this matter outweighs the interest in holding a separate trial.”
Predictably, the decision drew outrage from many on the right. Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, for example, wrote, “So we won’t know which politicians he bribed or who’s campaigns he influenced? That collective sigh of relief you are hearing is from the DEEP STATE.”
Similarly, Turning Point USA founder and conservative X commentator Charlie Kirk wrote, “The SBF case became too high-profile for the DOJ to completely ignore, but they made sure laundering $100 million of customers’ money to Schumer, Biden, and McConnell and other dark money groups would never blow back on the “elite.” Trump faces 700 years in federal prison, but America’s uniparty cabal just gave themselves a get out of jail free card. You’re witnessing DC corruption in realtime.”
Also joining in was X personality Collin Rugg, who posted a video of Maxine Waters blowing SBF a kiss and wrote, “JUST IN: The U.S. government is dropping six charges against crypto scammer Sam Bankman-Fried including campaign finance violations and conspiracy to commit bribery charges. Making bribes with stolen money is fine as long as that money is going to U.S. politicians. SBF donated $100 million during the 2022 midterms, pouring tens of millions into dark money groups with customers’ funds. Some of these groups were linked to Senate leaders including Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer. Here is Maxine Waters blowing him a kiss.” Fox News Digital reports that SBF actually donated about $38 million to mainly Democratic and left-wing candidates and causes in 2021 and 2022, not $100 million.
Featured image credit: By US Senate – https://www.c-span.org/video/?517737-1/senate-hearing-regulating-cryptocurrency-markets, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=125506065
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