FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas as US filed criminal charges against him.
FTX – FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas as the United States filed criminal charges against him.
On Monday evening (Eastern Standard Time), Sam Bankman-Fried (also known as SBF) was arrested by Bahamian authorities after the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York shared a sealed indictment with the Bahamian government, setting the stage for extradition and US trial for him at the heart of FTX’s collapse.
According to Bahamas Attorney General Ryan Pinder, SBF’s arrest followed receipt of formal notification from US that it has filed criminal charges against him and was “likely to request his extradition”.
The Royal Bahamas police force confirmed SBF’s arrest and said that he would appear in magistrate court in Nassau on Tuesday (EST).
“The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law,” Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis said in a statement.
CNBC reported that SBF’s arrest was the first concrete move by regulators to hold individuals accountable for the multibillion-dollar implosion of FTX crypto exchange last month.
READ ALSO: Sam Bankman-Fried Steps Down As FTX CEO
Before his arrest was announced, SBF had been expected to testify virtually before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday (EST). However, his attorneys told CNBC that he will not appear.
Representative Maxine Waters, D-Calif., who oversees that committee, said she’s “surprised” at SBF’s arrest and disappointed that Congress wouldn’t be able to hear from him on Tuesday.
US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams tweeted that the Federal government anticipated moving to “unseal the indictment in the morning.”
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
Citing a person familiar with the matter, the New York Times reported that the charges include the following: wire fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering.
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Enforcement Director Gurbir Grewal said in a statement that the SEC has initiated a separate set of charges against SBF, relating to “violations of our securities laws, which will be filed publicly tomorrow in the Southern District of New York”.
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