Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX who recently went bankrupt, was arrested in the Bahamas after U.S. prosecutors filed criminal charges against him, according to a Bahamian government statement.
Sam Bankman-Fried, central figure in the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange, has just been arrested in the Bahamas and should be quickly extradited to the United States to be charged. After going bankrupt, FTX had been the subject of a large-scale hack, and French investors are currently trying to recover the thousands of euros lost.
The Southern District of New York (SDNY) said late Monday that the platform’s founder was arrested based on a sealed indictment filed by SDNY. Bankman-Fried had been the subject of a criminal investigation by US and Bahamian authorities following last month’s collapse of FTX. The company filed for bankruptcy when it ran out of money after the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank run.
Sam Bankman-Fried to stand trial in US
Although Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas, where he currently resides, prosecutors may have the legal tools to extradite him to the United Statesaccording to experts.
Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis said in a statement that the two countries have ” a common interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law “.
Bankman-Fried’s arrest comes the day before he was scheduled to testify remotely before the House Financial Services Committee, investigating the collapse of his multi-billion dollar crypto empire. Financial Services Commission Chair Maxine Waters said in a statement that she was disappointed he was not testifying, but remained committed to getting to the bottom of what happened at FTX.
” While Mr. Bankman-Fried should be held accountable, the American public deserves to hear directly from Mr. Bankman-Fried about the actions that harmed more than a million people and wiped out the hard-earned savings of so many of them “, she said. ” The public has been anxiously awaiting these answers under oath before Congress, and the timing of this arrest robs the public of that opportunity. “.