© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces fraud charges over the collapse of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, leaves Manhattan federal court in New York City, US, on March 30, 2023. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli/File Photo
By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. prosecutors said they do not plan to hold a second trial against Sam Bankman-Fried, who was convicted last month of stealing from clients of his now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
In a letter filed Friday night in Manhattan federal court, prosecutors said the “strong public interest” in a prompt resolution of their case against the 31-year-old former billionaire outweighed the benefits of a second trial.
Prosecutors said the interests “weigh particularly heavily here,” given that Bankman-Fried's sentencing scheduled for March 28, 2024 will likely include forfeiture and restitution orders for victims of her crimes.
On Nov. 2, the jury convicted Bankman-Fried of all seven counts of fraud and conspiracy he faced. Prosecutors had accused him of looting $8 billion from FTX clients out of pure greed.
Bankman-Fried's attorneys declined to comment.
Bankman-Fried had faced six additional charges that had been dropped from her first trial, including campaign finance violations, conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transfer business.
He had been extradited in December 2022 from the Bahamas, where FTX was based, to face the previous seven charges.
However, the Bahamas has not yet consented to a trial on the remaining charges, leaving the timeline uncertain, prosecutors said.
The Bankman-Fried verdict came nearly a year after FTX filed for bankruptcy, wiping out her $26 billion personal fortune in one of the quickest collapses of a major player in U.S. financial markets.
Bankman-Fried could face decades in prison when he is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan.
Prosecutors said much of the evidence that could be offered in a second trial was already presented in the first.
They also said a second trial would not affect the time Bankman-Fried could face in prison under recommended federal guidelines, because Kaplan could consider all of Bankman-Fried's conduct when sentencing him on the charges he was convicted of.
Bankman-Fried is expected to appeal her conviction.
He testified at trial that he made mistakes running FTX, including failing to create a team to oversee risk management, but did not steal client funds.
Bankman-Fried also said he thought FTX's lending of money by his cryptocurrency-focused hedge fund, Alameda Research, was permissible, and that he didn't realize how precarious its finances had become until shortly before They will both collapse.
The Massachusetts Institute of technology graduate has been jailed since August, when Kaplan revoked his bail after concluding that Bankman-Fried had likely tampered with potential trial witnesses.
The case is United States v. Bankman-Fried, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 22-cr-00673.
