Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of now-defunct crypto exchange FTX, has been arrested in the Bahamas after US prosecutors formally filed criminal charges against him.
According to a statement from the government of the Bahamas, the SBF was arrested on Monday “after receiving formal notification from the United States that it has filed criminal charges against the SBF and is likely to request its extradition.”
The government of the Bahamas noted that if the US government makes a request for extradition, they will process it “immediately”.
The Southern District of New York, which is probing the collapse of Bankman-Fried and FTX and its associated trading firm Alameda, confirmed his arrest on Twitter.
“Earlier this evening, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the US government,” Tweeted US Attorney Damian Williams. “We expect to open the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.”
Shortly after SBF’s arrest became public, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s official Twitter account stated that they commended law enforcement for “securing the arrest” of SBF and that they had authorized Separate charges related to Bankman-Fried’s “securities law violations,” which will be filed publicly on Tuesday.
as informed of, SBF was expected to attend an upcoming US House committee hearing today and testify on the collapse of his crypto empire. However, following his arrest, the crypto boss will not be able to attend the hearing.
one in StatementMaxine Waters, chair of the Financial Services Committee, said she was disappointed that the SBF would not be attending tomorrow’s hearing.
“While Mr. Bankman-Fried must be held accountable, the American public deserves to hear directly from Mr. Bankman-Fried about actions that have harmed more than one million people, and cost so many more hard-earned money.” erased,” he said. “The public has been waiting anxiously to get these answers under oath before Congress, and the timing of this arrest deprives the public of that opportunity.”
Waters said the committee would still hear from the exchange’s new CEO John Ray III, a bankruptcy expert who previously oversaw the aftermath of collapsed energy giant Enron.
The SBF, which recently invited the BBC to its mansion in the Bahamas, Told media that he hopes to earn enough money to start a new business and pay back the victims of the collapse.
He also denied the allegations of cheating, saying, “I didn’t cheat intentionally, I don’t think I cheated, I didn’t want any of that to happen. I certainly wasn’t as capable as I thought.” “
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