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Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder and former CEO of collapsing crypto exchange FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday, the Bahamas attorney general’s office said in a statement.
The arrest came after the office reported that criminal charges had been filed against Bankman-Fried by the United States and would likely seek extradition. Damian Williams, US Attorney General for the Southern District of New York, confirmed the arrest and said the indictment would likely be released on Tuesday.
“Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the US government, based on a sealed indictment by the SDNY,” Williams said. wrote a tweet Monday afternoon. “We expect to take action to resolve the indictment in the morning and then we will have more to say.”
USA Damian Williams: Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the US Government based on a sealed indictment by the SDNY. We expect action to open the indictment in the morning and we will have more to say then.
— US Attorney General SDNY (@SDNYnews) 12 December 2022
Bankman-Fried, better known as SBF, stepped down as CEO of FTX in November following the beleaguered cryptocurrency platform. Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Bahamas-based exchange was one of the biggest players in cryptocurrency, and Bankman-Fried was famous for his lobbying with politicians on both sides of the aisle, but its meltdown has cast doubts about the cryptocurrency and left customers wondering if it will ever do it again. get your money back.
Disclosures about the holdings and close relationship between FTX and Alameda Research — more than a third of the assets on Alameda’s balance sheet were FTX-issued FTT tokens — triggered a series of events last month that led to Alameda’s shutdown and FTX filing. for bankruptcy protection. Billions in investors’ funds apparently disappeared overnight.
Bankman-Fried, “I was CEO of FTX. That means I’m responsible” Said during a live interview at Dealbook Summit on 30 November. “I wouldn’t be surprised if I talked about what happened to our representatives there sometime,” said Bankman-Fried.
The US Department of Justice and other agencies are investigating allegations of fraud and misappropriation of funds by FTX. Bankman-Fried denied that he had committed fraud or deliberately misappropriated customer money.
The former face of cryptocurrency has asked US Representative Maxine Waters, chair of the House of Representatives Financial Services committee, to testify at a hearing on the FTX debacle scheduled for December 13. Bankman-Fried was willing to testify but needed time to prepare.
The Bahamas’ prime minister, Philip Davis, said that while the United States filed a criminal complaint against the SBF, the island country where the exchange is located is also conducting its own criminal and regulatory investigations into FTX’s collapse.
