TechFlow reported that U.S. prosecutor Lewis Kaplan said in a letter on Tuesday that the Department of Justice still plans to argue, during Sam Bankman-Fried's trial in October, that he carried out an "illegal campaign finance" scheme—despite prosecutors stating two weeks ago that treaty obligations prevented them from bringing campaign finance charges against the FTX founder.
However, in the letter addressed to Judge Lewis Kaplan, the DOJ stated it still intends to include campaign finance allegations within the wire fraud charges. The Department of Justice said: "The superseding indictment will make clear that SBF continues to be charged with carrying out an illegal campaign financing scheme, which is part of the original fraud and money laundering conspiracy, and that the use of customer funds for campaign-related activities falls within the wire fraud charges set forth in the original indictment."
Bankman-Fried is currently scheduled to stand trial on October 2, 2023, with a second trial set for March 2024 on additional charges brought in multiple superseding indictments.
