by - Bahamian authorities arrested FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on Monday.
- The SBF said in an interview he gave a few hours ago that he did not believe he would be detained on the US coast.
- He made the comments while explaining why he plans to call to testify before Congress on Tuesday.
Multitasker Sam Bankman-Fried, who played video games and answered questions during an interview, said he didn’t think he would be arrested if he returned to the United States just hours before he was arrested in the Bahamas.
“I don’t believe I will be, but I haven’t taken a deep dive into this. It’s something I need to think about more,” Bankman-Fried said in an interview with options streaming platform Unusual Whales on Twitter Spaces on Monday. per transcript.
Unusual Whales described Bankman-Fried’s interview as “the last thing he did as a free man.”
Bankman-Fried was answering a question about possible detention if he entered the United States, as he was scheduled to testify before Congress on Tuesday. The former FTX CEO said he wouldn’t be there in person as it was “pretty much full” according to the transcript.
He also said that it is difficult for him to move and travel at the moment, as the paparazzi influence is quite large.
—unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) 12 December 2022
During the interview – and in the midst of a constant clicking in the background – Bankman-Fried was asked if he played a video game and he replied, “Yes, I do.”
He said he was playing “Storybook Brawl,” a game that FTX acquired in March 2022. Bankman-Fried told the New York Times in November that the game was mind-blowing.
Experts said Bankman-Fried could face extradition to the United States despite being arrested in the Bahamas. Insider’s Sindhu Sundar and Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert on Tuesday.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, said after Bankman-Fried’s arrest will make a complaint against Tuesday regarding securities law violations.
Representative Maxine Waters, chair of the US House Financial Services Committee, said in a statement that she was “surprised” by Bankman-Fried’s arrest because it meant she would not testify as planned.
“Despite Mr. Bankman-Fried being held accountable, the American people deserve to hear directly from Mr. Bankman-Fried about the actions that have harmed more than a million people and destroyed the hard-earned life savings of many,” Waters said.
Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO of FTX on November 11, the same day that the stock market filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as it failed to provide a recovery after a week of heavy liquidity crunch.
The curly-haired 30-year-old has been on a round of media apologies since FTX’s collapse, but told the New York Times in late November that he doesn’t think he’s legally responsible.
The SEC did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment, which was sent outside of normal business hours.
Insider did not immediately reach Bankman-Fried’s representatives for comment, but one representative declined to comment to the New York Times over his arrest.
