Disgraced FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Says Criminal Charges Were a 'Rush to Judgment.' Now He's Asking the Court to Dismiss Them. Bankman-Fried has been charged with 13 counts of fraud in connection to his now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange.

By Sam Silverman Edited by Jessica Thomas

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrives at Manhattan Federal Court for a court appearance on March 30, 2023 in New York City.

Fallen FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, aka SBF, thinks the court was too heavy-handed with the charges levied against him in December.

On Monday SBF's legal team asked Manhattan federal court to dismiss 10 of the 13 criminal charges against him, including the foreign bribery charge, campaign finance charge, and a bank fraud charge, according to the New York Times.

Bankman-Fried was accused of misappropriating billions of dollars in customer funds in a fraud scheme between his FTX cryptocurrency exchange and his Alameda Research crypto trading firm. FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022 after a bank run exposed an $8 billion hole in the company's accounts. SBF was arrested in the Bahamas and extradited to the United States in December. He is currently free on a $250 million bond as he awaits his trial, which is scheduled to start on October 2.

SBF has pleaded not guilty to the 13 fraud and conspiracy charges against him. In the court filing, his legal team argues that 10 of the charges violate the extradition process or are too vague, stating that the prosecution has an "eagerness to run up charges against Mr. Bankman-Fried," per NYT.

RELATED: Who Is FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried and What Did He Do? Everything You Need to Know About the Disgraced Crypto King

Additionally, his lawyers claim that prosecutors "rushed to judgment" in the wake of the broad market crypto crash in 2022.

"Rather than wait for traditional civil and regulatory processes following their ordinary course to address the situation, the government jumped in with both feet, improperly seeking to turn these civil and regulatory issues into federal crimes," his lawyers wrote in a court filing, according to Reuters.

Prosecutors must respond to SBF's dismissal request by May 29. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan is scheduled to hear arguments on June 15.

RELATED: From Tom Brady to Kevin O'Leary – See Who Lost Big in the Wake of the FTX Crypto Collapse

Sam Silverman

Content Strategy Editor

Sam Silverman is a content strategy editor at Entrepreneur Media. She specializes in search engine optimization (SEO), and her work can be found in The US Sun, Nicki Swift, In Touch Weekly, Life & Style and Health. She writes for our news team with a focus on investigating scandals. Her coverage and expertise span from business news, entrepreneurship, technology, and true crime, to the latest in entertainment and TV news. Sam is a graduate of Lehigh University and currently resides in NYC. 

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