FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried urges U.S. judge to dismiss most criminal charges

Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX ( FTT-USD ) who has been accused of defrauding customers and investors, asked a U.S. judge to toss most of the criminal counts against him, according to a recent filing in Manhattan federal court. Lawyers for the 31-year-old former billionaire argued that some of the charges brought against SBF -- as he is known -- breached the terms of his extradition from the Bahamas, where FTX ( FTT-USD ) was based, the Associated Press noted, adding that other charges failed to meet the legal conditions of criminal statutes. The former FTX ( FTT-USD ) CEO was indicted with eight counts in December, including fraud and money laundering, and in February 12 more counts were added , including unlawful political contributions and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. New charges were added to the indictment in March, alleging that he bribed Chinese government officials. SBF pleaded not guilty to the original indictment as well as the latest batch of charges. “In the wake of the ‘crypto winter,’ the Government, in hindsight, may dislike or disapprove of business practices of the cryptocurrency industry, FTX, or even Mr. Bankman-Fried — but this does not give it license to turn them into federal crimes,” his lawyers said Monday. The lawyers also argued that some charges duplicated others, the AP reported, citing other court papers. More on Sam Bankman-Fried FTX transferred over $3.2B to key employees, including Sam Bankman-Fried Sam Bankman-Fried reaches deal with federal prosecutors on use of encrypted apps FTX's Bankman-Fried arrested in Bahamas, country says Sam Bankman-Fried to be released on $250M bond, stay under house arrest