Open this photo in gallery: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves Manhattan federal court, in New York, on Feb. 16.John Minchillo/The Associated Press Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers made meritless arguments in a bid to convince a judge to toss out criminal charges alleging that the FTX founder stole from investors in his multibillion dollar cryptocurrency fund, federal prosecutors said Monday. In papers filed in Manhattan federal court, prosecutors responded to early May filings in which Bankman-Fried’s lawyers insisted that the United States overreached in its case against Bankman-Fried, making federal crimes out of regulatory issues. “These motions are meritless,” prosecutors wrote in…