Sam Bankman-Fried, ex-CEO of crypto trader FTX who allegedly masterminded the biggest fraud in crypto-industry, has asked a US court to throw out ten of 13 criminal counts against him.
His lawyers have insisted that the now-bankrupt FTX was not the only digital crypto-company facing major troubles amid a market collapse in the fall of 2022. However, prosecutors chose to scapegoat Bankman-Fried in a "rush to judgment" and that federal prosecutors levied a case against him with "troubling" haste.
"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," SBF lawyers said in a statement.
Bankman-Fried used to be a rising star of the crypto industry, capitalizing on the Bitcoin boom with a net worth of $26 billion. He even gained some political influence, generously donating to both Democrats and Republicans, violating US political campaign finance laws.
The "Golden Age" for Bankman-Fried ended in November 2022 when several newspapers alleged that FTX was a financial bubble, triggering an outbreak of withdrawals and eliminating company values. The media reports drew the attention of US regulators who were quick to dub Bankman-Fried's company as commiting "fraud of epic proportions."