SBF seeks to sever new charges from trial, says proceedings may take ‘years’
According to the defense, even if the unnamed minister was to provide permission to charge SBF with additional offenses, the defendant would have the right to appeal this decision through the Bahamas courts. This means the process would “likely take several months or years to resolve.” In the meantime, the charges should be dismissed, as they are used to detain the defendant under house arrest. Defense attorneys also provided an alternative solution to the problem: If the U.S. district court feels that it cant dismiss the charges, it should sever them from the upcoming trial. This would allow Bankman-Fried to be tried on the seven charges he agreed to be extradited on but none others. Bankman-Fried was originally charged in December in connection with his management of failed crypto exchange FTX. Prosecutors allege that he commingled customer funds and misled investors about FTXs risk management practices, leading to losses for investors and customers. Bankman-Fried claims the exchange collapsed because of ordinary management mistakes, not fraud.