US justice wants to try Sam Bankman-Fried on eight counts, including electronic fraud, money laundering and violation of electoral laws.
Sam Bankman-Fried, ex-boss of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange platform, will be heard Monday by a magistrate in the Bahamas, where he is being held, having finally agreed to be extradited to the United States when he is there. previously opposed, according to local and US media. “SBFArrived at court shortly after 10 a.m. (3 p.m. GMT), according to local television footage, in a black prison service van and dressed in a dark suit. The hearing is scheduled for around 11 a.m. (4 p.m. GMT). He is accused of fraud by American justice, and would have agreed to be extradited to the United States. He had previously made it known that he might oppose a return to American soil.
He was charged on Tuesday with defrauding clients and investors who put their money in his FTX and Alameda companies. US justice wants to try him on eight counts, including electronic fraud, money laundering and violation of electoral laws. He is accused of having, from the beginning of FTX in 2019, used the money deposited by customers wishing to speculate on cryptocurrencies to finance the activity – and the risky bets – of his brokerage and investment company. Alameda. He is also accused of having lied to the financiers who lent money to Alameda about the real financial health of the company and to the investors of FTX. He finally used some money”Fly” to its customers to pay tens of millions of dollars to political leaders, Democrats and Republicans alike, and thus attempt “to buy influencein Washington, according to New York federal prosecutor Damian Williams.
Read alsoFTX: deceits, conflicts of interest, excess… Will Sam Bankman-Fried end his life in prison?
Financial market regulators have simultaneously filed civil complaints against the former financial prodigy. The stock market policeman accuses him of having lied to investors about the links between his two companies and of having used his clients’ money to make “risky investments, lavish real estate purchases and large political donations“. The agency in charge of derivatives (CFTC) accuses him for his part of fraud and false declarations. However, the platform was valued at $32 billion at the start of the year, and SBF was considered the rising star of cryptocurrencies.
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