PolitiFact – Sam Bankman-Fried is not ‘free as a bird.’ He still faces charges and two trial dates

Sam Bankman-Fried, former CEO of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was arrested in December following the company’s collapse. A social media post claimed the charges against him have been dropped.

“Breaking: Biden administration quietly DROPS all charges against Sam Bankman-Fried,” read a June 20 Instagram post. “The crypto founder who stole $4 billion and gave half of it to Democrat candidates is now free as a bird.”

The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The post misrepresented the latest development in Bankman-Fried’s trial. He’s not off the hook; the proceedings have been delayed.

Bankman-Fried was extradited in December from the Bahamas, where FTX was based. He was initially charged with eight federal counts of fraud and conspiracy. Federal prosecutors added five more charges after his extradition, including a bank fraud count and an allegation that he bribed a foreign government.

Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to the 13 charges. But his attorneys argued the additional five charges violated elements of the extradition process between the Bahamas and the United States.

Prosecutors said June 14 that they would temporarily withdraw those five charges in preparation for an October trial, but asked Manhattan District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to schedule a second trial on those five counts.

The change would give Bahamian authorities time to review the additional charges and determine whether they consent to them.

On June 15, Kaplan approved prosecutors’ request to withdraw the five charges and scheduled a second trial date for March 11, 2024. The first trial date will be in October.

Reuters also debunked this social media post’s claim. 

We rate the claim that the Biden administration “dropped all charges” against Bankman-Fried False.