By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Sam Bankman-Fried, who has long denied stealing from customers of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange, on Monday asked a U.S. judge to throw out criminal charges against him over the now-bankrupt FTX's collapse.
In a filing in Manhattan federal court, Bankman-Fried's lawyers said many cryptocurrency exchanges collapsed during a broad market crash in 2022, and that prosecutors hastily charged their client in a "rush to judgment."
"Rather than wait for traditional civil and regulatory processes following their ordinary course to address the situation, the Government jumped in with both feet, improperly seeking to turn these civil and regulatory issues into federal crimes," his lawyers wrote.
Bankman-Fried, a 31-year-old former billionaire, has largely been confined to his parents' home since his December arrest in the Bahamas, where he had lived and where FTX was based. He was extradited to the United States just over a week after his arrest.
FTX imploded after a flurry of customer withdrawals in the wake of reports it had commingled assets with Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried's crypto-focused hedge fund.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Bankman-Fried stole billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to plug losses at Alameda, buy real estate, and make political contributions through an illegal straw-donor scheme. They have also charged him with bribing Chinese officials.
Prosecutors have until May 29 to respond to Bankman-Fried's dismissal request, and U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan will hear arguments on June 15.
Bankman-Fried rode a boom in bitcoin and other digital assets to an estimated net worth of $26.5 billion, according to Forbes magazine. His fortune largely evaporated when FTX collapsed in November.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate has pleaded not guilty to 13 counts of fraud and conspiracy. He has acknowledged that FTX had inadequate risk management but denies stealing funds, and has sought to distance himself from FTX's day-to-day operations.
Three onetime close associates - former Alameda co-chief executive Caroline Ellison, former FTX technology chief Gary Wang, and former FTX engineering chief Nishad Singh - have all pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.
Bannkman-Fried's trial is set for Oct. 2.
His parents, who live in Palo Alto, California, are Stanford University law professors and co-signed his $250 million bond.
Bankman-Fried has limited access to technology, after prosecutors warned he might tamper with witnesses.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
