Disgraced crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested by authorities within the Bahamas Monday night after criminal charges were filed by US prosecutors.
The 30-year-old was taken into custody after the Bahamian government received formal notification from the US of the costs against him, based on the Office of Attorney General within the Bahamas.
Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Recent York, confirmed Bankman-Fried’s arrest and said the indictment can be unsealed Tuesday.
“Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried on the request of the U.S. Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY,” Williams tweeted. “We expect to maneuver to unseal the indictment within the morning and may have more to say at the moment.”
The fees include wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and money laundering, the Recent York Times reported, citing an individual with knowledge of the matter.
Disgraced former FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested within the Bahamas Monday.Getty Images
The shaggy-haired former billionaire has been under investigation by the Justice Department ever since FTX — which had been among the many world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges — imploded and filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 11.
Federal prosecutors have reportedly been scrutinizing how FTX handled customer funds and the alleged transfer of a whole lot of tens of millions of dollars from the US to the Bahamas across the time of the bankruptcy filing.
They were also said to be probing whether Bankman-Fried manipulated crypto markets by orchestrating trades that led to the collapse of the TerraUSD cryptocurrency earlier this 12 months.
Separate from the indictment, the Securities and Exchange Commission – which had also opened a probe — said Monday the regulator had authorized charges related to Bankman-Fried’s alleged violation of securities laws.
A SEC official said in an announcement that the costs can be filed publicly within the Southern District of Recent York on Tuesday.
Bankman-Fried, who resigned as FTX’s CEO the day of the bankruptcy filing, has repeatedly denied personal responsibility for the platform’s collapse and distanced himself from fraud accusations, insisting he “didn’t ever attempt to commit fraud.”
A house in The Bahamas linked to disgraced FTX-co-founder Bankman-Fried.
An Albany Bahamas property tied to Bankman-Fried.
A Bahamas penthouse tied to SBF.
A Bahamas penthouse tied to SBF.
News of his arrest got here one day before US lawmakers were scheduled to grill Bankman-Fried over FTX’s disastrous collapse on Capitol Hill in Washington DC on Tuesday.
Hours before he was nabbed, Bankman-Fried had said he can be testifying remotely before the House Financial Services Committee because he was “quite overbooked” and had security concerns about traveling to DC.
The Bahamian government attorney general’s office said Monday they expected to assist in Bankman-Fried’s extradition to the US.
It wasn’t immediately clear how quickly that might occur.
“The Bahamas and the US have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals related to FTX who could have betrayed the general public trust and broken the law,” Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis said within the wake of his arrest.
“While the US is pursuing criminal charges against SBF individually, The Bahamas will proceed its own regulatory and criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX, with the continued cooperation of its law enforcement and regulatory partners in the US and elsewhere.”
with Post Wires
