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Late Monday, legally embroiled FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried moved to dismiss the majority of criminal charges lobbed against him by the United States government after his cryptocurrency exchange went bankrupt in 2022.
In documents filed in a Manhattan federal court, lawyers from the law firm Cohen & Gresser LLP shared Bankman-Fried's first official legal defense. Lawyers accused the US of a "troubling" and "classic rush to judgment," claiming that the government didn't even wait to receive "millions of documents" and "other evidence" against Bankman-Fried before "improperly seeking" to turn "civil and regulatory issues into federal crimes."
After FTX's collapse last year, federal prosecutors acted quickly to intervene, within a month alleging that Bankman-Fried was stealing billions in customer funds, defrauding investors, committing bank and wire fraud, providing improper loans, misleading lenders, transmitting money without a license, making illegal campaign contributions, bribing China officials, and other crimes. Through it all, Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty. Now, in his motion to dismiss, Bankman-Fried has requested an oral argument to "fight these baseless charges" and "clear his name." He's asking the court to dismiss 10 out of 13 charges, arguing that federal prosecutors have failed to substantiate most of their claims.
"The Government's haste and apparent willingness to proceed without having all the relevant facts and information has produced an indictment that is not only improperly brought but legally flawed and should be dismissed," Bankman-Fried's lawyers argued in one of several memos filed yesterday.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by ikanreed on Thursday May 11 2023, @05:07PM (2 children)
Lifting up a knife and shoving it down is not murder.
Grabbing a wallet I saw is not pickpocketing
My dog was on a leash, I just wasn't holding it.
I wasn't divulging nuclear secrets, I was just chatting with my online friend about my job.
It's been tried before. And it's a shitty lawyer who tries it again.
I'm not a lawyer, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say "Never establish your mens rea as part of your defense" is a reasonable guidepost for all criminal proceedings.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday May 11 2023, @07:25PM
>"Never establish your mens rea as part of your defense" is a reasonable guidepost for all criminal proceedings.
That depends (almost entirely) on how well you did your venue shopping.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Thexalon on Friday May 12 2023, @03:54AM
Also, SBF, like most people in the dock for con artistry, is generally neglecting the #1 rule of what to do as a criminal defendant: Shut the fuck up. Definitely don't talk to the police, but also don't talk to the press, don't talk to anybody except your lawyer about the case.
The reason con artists, fraudsters, and other serial liars have a tough time with this one is that they've been able to talk their way out of tough situations before, so they think that will work in court too. What they don't understand is that both the prosecutor and judge have spent their entire professional lives hearing this kind of crap, knowing exactly what it is, and how to tear it to pieces.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.