Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday, according to a press release from the Royal Bahamas Police Force. The note states that the arrest came after US authorities filed criminal charges against Bankman-Fried. Now it is expected that the businessman will soon be extradited to the US, his home country.
The arrest of the founder of FTX took place at the request of the US authorities; the expectation is that SBF will return to the US to be tried for the possible crimes he committed.
Bahamian Attorney, General Ryan Pinder said the United States has filed unspecified criminal charges against Bankman-Fried and “will likely seek his extradition.” This was made available via a Post on Twitter by SDNYNews. The full note on SBF’s arrest can be read below:
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USA Damian Williams: Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the U.S. Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY. We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.
— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) December 12, 2022
In an excerpt from the note, Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis says that “The Bahamas and the United States have a common interest in holding to account all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and violated the law.” “While the United States is pursuing criminal charges against the SBF individually, The Bahamas will continue its own regulatory and criminal investigations into the FTX collapse, with the continued cooperation of its regulatory and law enforcement partners in the United States and elsewhere,” he added.
In addition to the statement from the Bahamian authorities, SBF’s arrest was also confirmed Monday evening via an official Twitter profile by Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York: “Earlier Monday evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the US government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY. We expect to act to open the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.”
SBF’s arrest comes a few hours before the businessman testifies before the US Congress, at a Financial Services Committee hearing scheduled for Tuesday (13), where SBF would be questioned by lawmakers about the collapse of FTX. Before being arrested today, Bankman-Fried said he would not attend tomorrow’s Washington DC hearing in person because of the “paparazzi effect” his presence would cause.
“It’s very difficult for me to move and travel right now because the paparazzi effect is so great,” he said Monday in an interview with the Twitter account Unusual Whales.
Until then, SBF was in the Bahamas, where FTX’s headquarters are located. FTX was once one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, but it fell into disrepair in what experts called “one of the most abrupt and difficult collapses in the history of corporate America”. FTX went bankrupt in early November after using customer money to place risky bets through Alameda Research, a second company owned by Sam Bankman-Fried.
After fears of the companies’ illiquidity caused a “bank run” by investors, FTX was forced to admit that it did not hold asset reserves from one-to-one clients. This caused withdrawals to freeze and FTX’s subsequent US bankruptcy filing. The US Department of Justice, SEC and CFTC are investigating the FTX collapse — but to date, no criminal charges have been filed.
Statement from Maxine Waters regarding SBF
Now that SBF is in prison, the expectation is that he will return to the United States, where the complaint to the American authorities must be presented so that the businessman can be judged for the possible crimes he committed.
Among the crimes the FTX founder is expected to be charged with are wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and money laundering, a person with knowledge of the matter told The New York Times.