Interesting wording. I am not a Lawyer but have had a lot of interest in this case and others like it.
"SAMUEL BANKMAN-FRIED" a/k/a "SBF," the defendant, and others known and unknown did combine, conspire, confederate, and agree together and with each other to commit wire fraud".
Does this indicate that they intend to charge more people in the organization under RICO laws? Or is that just standard legalese for any wire fraud case.
RICO is for charging the boss if you don't have direct evidence against them. In this case they do, so they don't need it.
Also the phrasing here is just wire fraud (18 USC 1343) and conspiracy (18 ISC 371). If they were going towards RICO, you'd expect to see them talking about "patterns of activity", "operating a criminal enterprise" or other phrasing from RICO statues (18 USC 1962).
There may already be sealed charges against others but yes, there will likely be charges against others. Some conspirators may receive or may have already received immunity in exchange for testimony, though. It will take time to determine who else was involved and to what extent, though my guess is the focus will be on SBF.
This is also great language for encouraging other conspirators to make a deal to testify even if the JD has little evidence against them. It's almost like the police lying and saying, "We have a video of you doing xyz."
The line after that contains "conspirators known and unknown". So, the US SDNY has already decided to charge some people. And the US SDNY is going to charge some other people, but they are not aware of their identity.
RICO is for using underlings to charge the boss. In this case, the boss is being charged. Conspiracy charges here imply co-conspirators.
Pretty standard legalese from where I'm sitting but I'd expect more people to be charged. He didn't do this all by himself. RICO wouldn't really apply here, they've already got the top guy, and usually RICO is about charging the top guy with the little guys' crimes.
"SAMUEL BANKMAN-FRIED" a/k/a "SBF," the defendant, and others known and unknown did combine, conspire, confederate, and agree together and with each other to commit wire fraud".
Does this indicate that they intend to charge more people in the organization under RICO laws? Or is that just standard legalese for any wire fraud case.