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The decision to avoid a second trial accusing Sam Bankman-Fried of conspiring to make illegal political donations and bribe foreign officials has many conservatives heartened.
Federal prosecutors said Friday they do not plan to pursue a second trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, citing the public interest in a speedy resolution to the case, which appeared to anger those who had hoped to see the disgraced FTX founder prosecuted in the most a large degree.
In a Friday letter filed in federal court in Manhattan, prosecutors said they “do not plan to proceed with a second trial” because “much of the evidence that would be offered in a second trial has already been offered in the first trial and may to be considered by the court at the sentencing of the accused in March 2024.’
“Given this practical reality and the strong public interest in an expeditious resolution of this matter, the government intends to proceed with sentencing on the charges on which the defendant was convicted at trial,” prosecutors added.
Prosecutors’ decision not to pursue a second trial against Bankman-Fried quickly drew backlash from those following the case.
“So we won’t know which politicians he bribed or whose campaigns he influenced? That collective sigh of relief you’re hearing is from the DEEP STATE,” wrote Congressman Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., in a Friday night post to X.
Conservative commentator John Cardillo also weighed in on the prosecutors’ announcement, accusing the Justice Department of protecting Democrats from being named as recipients of the Bankman-Fried donations.
“Sam Bankman-Fried will not face a second trial,” Cardillo wrote in an X post. “DOJ is protecting its recipients of Democratic donations.”
CryptoLaw founder John Deaton, who has consistently commented on the Bankman-Fried case, denounced the prosecutors’ decision as a “disgrace.”
“The DOJ has shown again that it is NOT an independent agency,” Deaton told X. “Who is the Attorney General protecting?”
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk also commented on prosecutors’ move not to pursue a second trial against Bankman-Fried, insisting the case had “become too high-profile for the DOJ to completely ignore.”
“The SBF case became too high profile for the DOJ to completely ignore, but they made sure that the $100 million money laundering of Schumer, Biden and McConnell clients and other dark money groups would never get back at the ‘elite “. Trump is facing 700 years in federal prison, but America’s one-party cabal just gave itself a get-out-of-jail-free card. You are witnessing corruption in DC in real time,” Kirk wrote in a social media post.
Addressing the issue, Trending Politics co-owner Colin Rugg said: “Bribing with stolen money is fine as long as that money goes to politicians in the US.”
“SBF donated $100 million during the 2022 midterm elections, pouring tens of millions into dark money groups with client funds,” Rugg wrote on X. “Some of these groups were connected to Senate leaders, including Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer.”
Rugg’s social media post also included a clip that appeared to show Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., blowing a kiss to Bankman-Fried during one of their meetings.
In 2021 and 2022, Bankman-Fried donated nearly $38 million to various candidates and PACs, giving primarily to Democratic candidates and left-leaning groups, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings.
The majority of his political donations have gone to Protect Our Future PAC, a group founded in January 2022 that is dedicated to promoting candidates who are committed to preventing future pandemics.
Bankman-Fried, who was accused of stealing from customers of his now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has been in jail since August when a judge revoked his bail for alleged witness tampering. He pleaded guilty earlier this month to seven federal charges and is scheduled for sentencing on March 28.
Bankman-Fried made headlines early in the trial when he appeared in court looking clean-cut, with a cropped haircut and a suit, having ditched the longer hair and casual clothes he was known for as FTX’s chief executive.
Prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried, who founded and controlled both FTX and subsidiary hedge fund Alameda Research, of misappropriating and misappropriating billions of dollars in FTX customer deposits, scheming to mislead investors and instructing other executives in his business to the same.
At trial, he faced two counts of wire fraud and five counts of conspiracy. The combined charges carry a maximum sentence of 110 years behind bars, but sentencing guidelines may call for much less than that.
Prosecutors said in their letter Friday that much of the evidence presented during the first trial would be repeated in the second. They noted that because they “proved that the defendant engaged in a scheme to make illegal campaign contributions, the Court may accept that scheme as relevant conduct in sentencing the defendant.”
Prosecutors also said they were prevented from including the illegal campaign contributions charge because the extradition agreement with the Bahamas for Bankman-Fried’s arrest did not include that count.
FOX Business’ Breck Dumas, Suzanne O’Hallora and Timothy Nerosi contributed to this report.
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