Last year, the shitcoin casino FTX, suffered an enormous loss when it went bankrupt and lost billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin, ETH and others overnight.

Despite this significant setback, the owner of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), remained politically active and was one of the top contributors to Democrats during the 2022 midterms.

However, in early January this year, SBF found himself facing serious legal charges related to his involvement with FTX and hedge fund Alameda Research. He pleaded not guilty to all eight counts brought against him in New York federal court on Tuesday.

The charges against Bankman-Fried are substantial and include allegations of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud as well as individual charges of securities fraud and wire fraud. Additionally, he faces accusations of money laundering along with conspiracy to avoid campaign finance regulations.

If proven true, these accusations could have severe consequences for SBF. 

During a court proceeding in January, it was revealed that the co-founder of FTX had allegedly used a secret backdoor to launder money to its sister company, Alameda Research. The attorney for FTX testified to this effect while Caroline Ellison, SBF's former girlfriend and CEO of Alameda Research, admitted that she and Bankman-Fried conspired to mislead investors and customers.

However, on Thursday federal prosecutors declared that they would drop several criminal charges against Sam Bankman-Fried. The decision came after the prosecutors offered an alternative proposal: if the judge agrees to try him later on those charges which are not dropped now then five out of thirteen charges will be severed from the case until further notice.

This change followed a recent ruling in the Bahamas allowing Bankman-Fried to challenge additional charges brought against him there. One prosecutor disclosed during Thursday's hearing that it was uncertain when or if the Bahamian authorities would consent to these new allegations; they included bank fraud as well as accusations of bribery involving Chinese officials.