No, prosecutors did not drop all charges against Sam Bankman-Fried

CLAIM: The Department of Justice has dropped all charges against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who is accused of cheating investors and looting customer deposits on the cryptocurrency trading platform.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. Federal prosecutors said last week that they are no longer pursuing one campaign finance charge against Bankman-Fried, but confirmed he is still set to face other charges at an October criminal trial. He may also face a second trial on additional charges next year.

THE FACTS: In the days since prosecutors dropped the campaign finance charge against Bankman-Fried, some social media users falsely claimed that the Department of Justice had given up on the case entirely, insinuating that it was because of his past political donations.

One post on X, formerly known as Twitter, read in part: “DOJ drops all charges against SBF.” The post, which had more than 6,000 likes, went on to point out that he was a prolific donor in the 2022 midterm elections.

However, only one charge was dropped by prosecutors. Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, confirmed to The Associated Press over email. Bankman-Fried remains criminally charged, as indicated on the public docket, he said.

“The only count the Government will not pursue is count 8, the campaign finance charge,” Biase told the AP. “The defendant faces trial on the remaining indictment and superseding indictment in October of this year and February of 2024.”

Federal prosecutors told the judge they were dropping the charge because the government in the Bahamas didn’t consider it to be part of Bankman-Fried’s extradition to the U.S. in December. They would not pursue it at the trial in keeping with U.S. treaty obligations to the Bahamas.

Bankman-Fried still faces seven charges in October from the original indictment filed last year, which include defrauding customers, and lenders. He also faces a second trial next year on other charges filed in a superseding indictment earlier this year, including conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.

As the AP reported, the campaign finance charge pertained to the government’s allegation that Bankman-Fried had enabled over $100 million siphoned from Alameda Research — his cryptocurrency hedge fund trading firm — to fund unlawful political contributions.

Prosecutors alleged in an indictment that Bankman-Fried made the contributions to improve his personal standing in Washington, D.C., to increase FTX’s profile and to “curry favor with candidates” who might help pass legislation favorable to FTX.

Before its collapse, FTX was the world’s second-largest crypto exchange and Bankman-Fried was its CEO and a billionaire several times over, at least on paper. FTX entered bankruptcy in November when the global exchange ran out of money after the equivalent of a bank run.

Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

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This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.

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