© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Former FTX Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces fraud charges over the collapse of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, leaves the Manhattan federal court in New York City, U.S. March 30, 2023. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -A U.S. judge on Thursday granted a request from prosecutors to try some of their charges against Sam Bankman-Fried in a second trial next year separate from his scheduled Oct. 2 trial over the collapse of now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
Bankman-Fried, 31, will be tried on March 11, 2024, on five counts, including bank fraud and bribing Chinese officials, that federal prosecutors in Manhattan brought after he was extradited from the Bahamas in December, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said in a written order. FTX was based in the Caribbean nation.
The onetime billionaire has pleaded not guilty to 13 fraud and conspiracy charges. An initial eight-count indictment filed in December accused him of stealing billions of dollars from FTX customers to plug losses at his Alameda Research hedge fund, lying to investors and lenders, and violating U.S. campaign finance laws.
Bankman-Fried has acknowledged inadequate risk management at FTX, but has denied stealing funds.
Bankman-Fried had asked Kaplan to dismiss the five post-extradition charges, along with the campaign finance charge, because the Bahamas did not consent to them. Alternatively, he suggested they be tried separately.
Prosecutors on Wednesday said they would support a separate trial for the post-extradition charges because it was not clear when the Bahamas would grant its consent, as is required under an extradition treaty between the two countries.
The campaign finance charge will still be part of Bankman-Fried’s Oct. 2 trial, according to Kaplan’s order.
