The fact that this guy has not been arrested just goes to show how completely f*cked America is.
It's also notable that FTX customers (at least the "in-crypto-for-the-ideology" ones) and investors wanted this. They wanted a financial system that was out of the reach of the US legal system - none of them had a problem dealing with an exchange that was based in the Bahamas for legal reasons until the whole thing fell apart. So it's interesting to hear so many calls for SBF's arrest by US authorities.
I'm going to go out on an amputated limb here and say...right well fucked.
Or IOW: prosecutors get one shot at the apple. They're going to wait until they have a good case and then they will prosecute him, assuming he hasn't been offed by then, and he will spend many years in prison.
[1] Defendants are usually asked to waive this deadline. For less serious charges, or for non-violent felonies where the defendant isn't planning to contest the charges, this is usually a good idea because prosecutors will agree to a better plea deal. For more serious and complex cases like this, it's never a good idea to waive the deadline. The defendant doesn't want to give the prosecution more time to prepare a case because the prosecutor won't agree to a better plea deal if they do. When defendants refuse to waive their right to a speedy trial, conviction rates are usually below 50% (from a standard rate of north of 80%) as the standard criminal investigation takes much longer than the speedy-trial window.
..thought that was the only situation in which double Jeopardy doesn't apply. Can you explain a bit? Is this condition specific to violent crimes or something? If not, seems like there should be a stronger consideration for the magnitude of harm done.
The last bit is why prosecutors wait to try defendants in complex cases.
(Note that there is no right to speedy sentencing...any time spent in jail/prison after conviction but before sentencing is credited against the incarceration sentence.)
* Note per below the sacrificial offense would be a Bahaman offense while the superseding offense would be in US jurisdiction.
A superseding indictment does not "reset" the clock. The speedy trial clock begins with the first indictment, regardless of whether there is a subsequent or superseding indictment. See e.g., U.S. v Black (2nd Cir. 2019), or US v. Young (11th Cir. 2008, available at https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-11th-circuit/1425888.html). The Young opinion is a good primer on the history of the speedy trial case law.
The following U.S. Circuits have ruled similarly to the 2nd and 11th Circuits on speedy trial rights and superseding indictments: D.C, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 9th.
Edit: SBF has been arrested by Bahaman authorities.
Edit: SBF has been arrested by Bahaman authorities.
!!!
That's correct, double-jeopardy applies at the jurisdictional level (meaning, double-jeopardy from a state court trial wouldn't prevent a trial at the federal level, or vice versa), so charges in the Bahamas would not trigger double-jeopardy protection against charges filed in the U.S. at the state or federal levels.
By arresting him now he can force a speedy trial. Feds are going to gather every single ounce of evidence they can before they go after him.
He's been arrested.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/12/ftx-founder-sam-bankman-frie...
Do you mean Bahamas?
If so they you are very wrong about their GDP :)
They transferred $500 million to Bahamas govt, which is ~5% of GDP. I would say that is a substantial portion.