FTX’s former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried or SBF would likely be extradited to the US to face criminal charges after the arrest by the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
Confirming the news, attorney Andre Damian Williams Jr stated, the Bahamian authorities took Samuel Bankman-Fried into its custody at the request of the U.S. Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the Southern District of New York [SDNY].
“We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time,” he added.
Prior to his arrest, Bankman-Fried turned down a request to testify virtually before the House Financial Services Committee on Dec 13.
His reluctance to appear at the scheduled date irked many in the community as they felt he was simply evading to dodge the authorities.
As reported by TronWeekly, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., has earlier extended an invitation to the embattled founder for a hearing on Capitol Hill.
Waters expressed disappointment that Congress will not be able to hear from him and expressed her “surprise” at his arrest.
The 30-year-old crypto billionaire and son of Stanford law professors continued to maintain innocence and deny fraud charges. He recently reached out to the BBC inviting them to his current residence in the Bahamas and said he hoped to find a way to make FTX users whole.
I’m going to be thinking about how we can help the world and if users haven’t gotten much back, I’m going to be thinking about what I can do for them. And I think at the very least I have a duty to FTX users to do right by them as best as I can.
When asked if he intended to launch a new business to generate the funds needed to repay investors, SBF replied: “To be able to do that, I would do anything. And I’ll make an effort if I can.”
With his arrest, SBF’s aim of recovering his customers’ assets is now a distant dream.
SBF Might Face Life In Prison Per Lawyer
FTX’s collapse was sparked by a CoinDesk report which uncovered a highly concentrated holding in self-issued FTT coins, which SBF’s fund Alameda Research utilized as collateral for billions in cryptocurrency loans.
The trading firm froze assets and declared bankruptcy days later. According to legal experts, Bankman-Fried might face life in prison without the chance of supervised release if the federal government pursues accusations of wire or bank fraud. It would be rare but not extraordinary to impose such a harsh penalty.