Bahamas Police Launch Investigation into FTX Conduct, Looking For ‘Criminal Misconduct’

Bahamas Police Begins Investigation Of Crypto Exchange ftxand is actively seeking evidence to establish whether “criminal misconduct” has occurred.

According to a tweet from the Royal Bahamas Police Force published on Sunday, a team of financial investigators from the force’s Financial Crimes Investigation Branch is already working with the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, the country’s financial regulator.

The tweet said the purpose of the joint team was to “investigate whether any criminal misconduct has occurred”.

The statement from the Bahamas Police Force came in addition to a separate press release from the Securities Commission of the Bahamas later this week on the situation surrounding FTX.

In press release, Securities Commission responds to widely shared public Statement From FTX that it was facilitating withdrawals for Bahamian customers in order to comply with local regulations. According to the Securities Commission, however, instructions were never given to prioritize withdrawals for Bahamian customers.

,[…] Such transactions may be described as having zero priority under the insolvency regime and result in withdrawal of funds from Bahamian customers,” the statement said.

It added that the commission “does not condone the preferential treatment of any investor or customer of FTX Digital Markets Ltd. or otherwise.”

The financial regulator’s latest update came on November 11 after the same agency said it had “taken Freeze Assets Held by FTX and the parties concerned.

The agency said at the time that it believed the freeze was a “prudent course of action” and was aimed at stabilizing the company and securing assets.

FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11 under Chapter 11 in the US state of Delaware. That same day, FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried stepped down as the company’s CEO and was replaced by Chicago-based attorney John J. Ray III.