Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed crypto exchange FTX, has finally been arrested in the Bahamas at the request of U.S. prosecutors. The company filed for bankruptcy on November 11 and since then, the crypto community has been calling for Bankman-Fried’s arrest for “fraudulent” behaviour. Bankman-Fried has denied he was committing fraud but admits he broke laws by not running the company to legal standards.
FTX was the second-largest exchange behind Binance, which could also be facing trouble in the future. People who left their crypto assets or money on FTX have been unable to access these and will now be left to claw back what they can through any claims processes that arise as part of the bankruptcy.
According to a statement put out by the Attorney General of The Bahamas, Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested on Monday after the United States said it had filed criminal charges and was “likely to request his extradition.” The Bahamas will now hold him in custody per its Extradition Act and will extradite him when the U.S. puts in a formal request.
SBF has been arrested. pic.twitter.com/6wsLVcdF5K
— Genevieve Roch-Decter, CFA (@GRDecter) December 12, 2022
“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.” said Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis. “While the United States is pursuing criminal charges against SBF individually, The Bahamas will continue its own regulatory and criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX, with the continued cooperation of its law enforcement and regulatory partners in the United States and elsewhere.”
Sam Bankman-Fried was due to testify before congress remotely on Tuesday. It’s unclear whether he will now still testify from where he’s being held or whether he’ll conveniently be able to get out of that event.