30-12-2023 (NEW YORK) US prosecutors announced on Friday (Dec 29) that they do not intend to pursue a second trial against Sam Bankman-Fried, who was convicted last month of embezzling funds from customers of his now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange. In a letter filed in federal court in Manhattan, prosecutors cited the strong public interest in a swift resolution of the case, emphasizing that the scheduled March 2024 sentencing, likely to include orders of forfeiture and restitution for victims, makes a second trial less advantageous.
Bankman-Fried, who faced seven counts, was convicted on Nov 2 after prosecutors alleged he stole US$8 billion from FTX customers out of sheer greed. The verdict followed FTX’s bankruptcy filing nearly a year earlier, leading to market turmoil and wiping out Bankman-Fried’s once US$26 billion personal fortune.
As FTX collapsed, Singapore’s Temasek Holdings announced in November last year that it would write down its US$275 million (S$376.8 million) investment in FTX, regardless of the exchange’s bankruptcy outcome. In May, Temasek’s Chairman Lim Boon Heng disclosed that the investment team and senior management had their compensation reduced following an internal review related to the FTX investment write-down.
Temasek, alongside 17 other entities, including banks, venture capitalists, and accounting firms, faced a class-action lawsuit alleging collusion with FTX to defraud investors. The lawsuit, filed in February in Miami, Florida, was initiated by an FTX customer whose funds were frozen in the wake of the cryptocurrency exchange’s collapse. Bankman-Fried’s conviction has brought attention to the broader implications and fallout surrounding the downfall of FTX.
