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SEC Case Against Bankman-Fried Postponed Pending Criminal Trial

Charges can wait until the Department of Justice’s case against the FTX founder concludes, a judge said.

(Michael del Castillo/CoinDesk)
(Michael del Castillo/CoinDesk)

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s case against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will be put on hold until related charges brought by the Department of Justice are dealt with, a U.S. judge said in a Feb. 13 ruling.

U.S. prosecutors last week said a pause would save time and resources, as the DOJ case against Bankman-Fried will likely influence overlapping civil cases. The SEC said Bankman-Fried used customer funds for his lavish lifestyle.

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On Tuesday, another civil case brought against the disgraced founder by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission was also delayed until after the criminal trial.

In December, Bankman-Fried was arrested following the collapse of FTX, and has pleaded not guilty to criminal charges brought against him by the DOJ, which include wire fraud and money laundering.

Read more: US SEC Charges Sam Bankman-Fried for Defrauding FTX Investors

Jack Schickler

Jack Schickler was a CoinDesk reporter focused on crypto regulations, based in Brussels, Belgium. He previously wrote about financial regulation for news site MLex, before which he was a speechwriter and policy analyst at the European Commission and the U.K. Treasury. He doesn’t own any crypto.

Jack Schickler