SBF charged with four new crimes, violations now total 12

Recently, Sam Bankman-Fried, a co-founder of FTX, was charged with four further offences, including conspiring to make unauthorised political contributions and bank fraud.

By using "straw" donors or corporate cash, the aforementioned donations allowed SBF to exceed its contribution cap and reportedly broke federal campaign finance regulations.

The FTX co-founder allegedly attempted to 'buy influence over cryptocurrency regulation in Washington, D.C., by directing tens of millions of dollars in illicit campaign contributions to both Democrats and Republicans,' states the new indictment. About 300 gifts to Republicans and Democrats, according to the prosecution, were made 'in the names of others in order to disguise the true source of the money and avoid federal election legislation,' allowing Bankman-Fried to evade contributions limits on individual donations.

SBF denies allegations

SBF is currently accused with 12 different crimes. The spokesman for Mr. Bankman-Fried has chosen not to address this, though.

Bankman-Fried was initially charged with eight criminal offences following the FTX fiasco in December 2022, and he was extradited from his home in the Bahamas. He has been charged with stealing deposits from FTX clients worth billions of dollars and using them for personal gain and charitable contributions as well as to sustain FTX and Alameda operations and investments.

Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to all of the initial charges.  Yet, if found guilty, he could spend more than 100 years in jail. His trial date has been set for 2 October.

It should be noted that Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX were regarded as the crypto industry's superpower before the FTX collapse. He was a strong advocate for crypto-related legislation in the US and one of the top donors to the Democrats in the run-up to the 2022 midterm elections.