Prosecution Submits Proposed Jury Instructions for Sam Bankman-Fried Trial

Sam Bankman-Fried is slated to face trial in October.

Just a day before Sam Bankman-Fried's upcoming arraignment on a new superseding indictment, the U.S. Department of Justice has submitted its proposed set of jury instructions for his trial scheduled in October.

Prosecutors submitted the document, titled "the government's requests to charge," on Monday, drawing from various prior sets of jury instructions, including previous statements made by Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversees Bankman-Fried's case in the Southern District of New York. The founder of FTX is confronted with a total of seven charges, encompassing wire fraud, securities and commodities fraud conspiracy, as well as money laundering accusations.

The filing from Monday provides a comprehensive breakdown of each of the distinct charges leveled against Bankman-Fried, delineating the nuances between "substantive crimes" and "crimes of conspiracy."

According to the proposal, substantive crimes pertain to directly committing or attempting to commit an offense, while conspiracy charges necessitate an agreement with another individual.

The proposed jury instructions also delineate the considerations jurors must bear in mind if they vote to convict. These include recognizing the existence of a fraudulent scheme, confirming that the defendant "knowingly and willfully participated" in the scheme, and acknowledging the use of interstate wires, which encompasses online communication.

Scheduled to commence in early October, Sam Bankman-Fried's trial is approaching. Following the revocation of his bond by Judge Kaplan, he was recently remanded to jail. The judge's decision stemmed from the belief that the former FTX CEO had violated his bail conditions by communicating with FTX.US general counsel Ryne Miller and sharing the diary of former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison with The New York Times.