FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in Bahamas | 24CA News
Police within the Bahamas have arrested former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, the nation’s legal professional normal mentioned on Monday, including that the Bahamas has acquired formal notification from the United States of felony fees in opposition to him.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s workplace in Manhattan confirmed the cryptocurrency change founder had been arrested within the Bahamas however declined to touch upon what the costs have been.
“As a result of the notification received and the material provided therewith, it was deemed appropriate for the attorney general to seek [Bankman-Fried’s] arrest and hold him in custody pursuant to our nation’s extradition act,” the workplace of the Bahamas Attorney General Ryan Pinder mentioned.
A lawyer for Bankman-Fried couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
Scheduled to testify
FTX filed for U.S. chapter safety final month and Bankman-Fried resigned as the corporate’s CEO as traders rushed to drag billions of {dollars} out of the crypto change.
Bankman-Fried had been scheduled to testify remotely Tuesday at a U.S. House monetary companies committee listening to inspecting the corporate’s collapse.
In a collection of interviews and public appearances in late November and December, Bankman-Fried acknowledged threat administration failures however sought to distance himself from accusations of fraud, saying he by no means knowingly commingled buyer funds on FTX with funds at his proprietary buying and selling agency, Alameda Research.
On 12 December 2022, the Office of the Attorney General of The Bahamas is asserting the arrest by The Royal Bahamas Police Force of Sam Bankman-Fried (“SBF”), former CEO of FTX. <a href=”https://t.co/CRNeLPAbVp”>pic.twitter.com/CRNeLPAbVp</a>
—@latraelrahming
“I didn’t ever try to commit fraud,” Bankman-Fried mentioned in a Nov. 30 interview on the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit, including he does not personally assume he has any felony legal responsibility.
FTX, which had been among the many world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, filed for chapter safety on Nov. 11 in one in all the highest-profile crypto blowups after merchants pulled $6 billion US from the platform in three days and rival change Binance deserted a rescue deal.
The liquidity crunch got here after Bankman-Fried secretly moved $10 billion of FTX buyer funds to Alameda, Reuters reported, citing two folks conversant in the matter. At least $1 billion in buyer funds had vanished, the folks mentioned.
