FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried asked a US judge to drop most of the criminal charges against him. Here's how the disgraced founder is trying to wrangle his way out of his own mess.

• FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried is trying to dismiss most of the criminal charges against him, claiming they're "legally flawed".
• "In sum, Mr. Bankman-Fried is here to fight these baseless charges and clear his name," lawyers wrote.

Sam Bankman-Fried is trying to rid his name of the several criminal charges against him following the collapse of the FTX founder's crypto empire.

In a Monday filing to the Manhattan federal court, Bankman-Fried's attorneys asked a US judge to dismiss 10 out of the 13 criminal counts against him.

"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.

They note that the US government also added new charges against Bankman-Fried that should be dismissed as "legally flawed."

"In sum, Mr. Bankman-Fried is here to fight these baseless charges and clear his name," lawyers added.

Bankman-Fried, once a golden boy of the crypto industry, became a disgraced figure following FTX's downfall that sent shockwaves throughout the digital-asset sector. He and his colleagues face allegations that they illegally misused FTX customer funds to support Bankman-Fried's crypto trading firm, Alameda Research.

He was arrested on December 12 by Bahamian authorities at the US government's request but has since been extradited to the US and released on bail of $250 million. In January, he even pleaded not guilty to the string of conspiracy counts against him.

According to the filing, Bankman-Fried has filed motions to dismiss all charges apart from three counts of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

"The Government's haste and apparent willingness to proceed without having all the relevant facts and information has produced an indictment that is not only improperly brought but legally flawed and should be dismissed," the filing said.

Here's five ways the 31-year-old is trying to wrangle his way out of his own mess, in the form of claimed shortcomings of the criminal charges against him, listed in the court filing:

Violation of the rule of specialty

"Motion to dismiss Counts 9-10 and 12-13 based on violation of the rule of specialty. Mr. Bankman-Fried agreed to simplified extradition, reserving his rights under the rule of specialty. The rule of specialty has been violated because Count 12 was not included in the Warrant of Surrender and Counts 9-10 and 13 were impermissibly added post-extradition."

The rule of specialty is a principle in international law where an extradited person cannot be punished for matters other than those for which they are extradited.

Invalidity of the "right to control" theory of property fraud

"Motion to dismiss Counts 7-9 and 1-2 based on invalidity of the "right to control" theory of property fraud and because the S5 Indictment does not identify a valid property interest that Mr. Bankman-Fried obtained from Alameda's lenders or from FTX's customers in violation of the wire fraud statute."

Failure to state an offense

"Motion to dismiss Counts 3-4 and 10 for failure to state an offense. The commodities fraud charges allege facts occurring almost entirely outside the United States and fail to allege the required "connection with" regulated sales or transactions. The unlicensed money transmitting charge fails because FTX was not required to register as a money services business solely for using a U.S. bank account."

Failure to allege illegal campaign contributions

"Motion to dismiss, or in the alternative sever, Counts 12 and 13. The S5 Indictment does not properly allege illegal campaign contributions or payments to Chinese officials to "obtain[ ] or retain[ ] business," and fails to establish venue for Count 13."

Multiplicity

"Motion to dismiss multiplicitous counts. Counts 1 and 9, and Counts 3 and 1, are the same in fact and law."