A turning point begins in the FTX affair with finally the arrest in the Bahamas of its former boss Sam Bankman-Fried, who should quickly take the road to the United States.
Bahamian police decided to move the case forward after receiving notification from US authorities announcing Sam Bankman-Fried’s upcoming indictment. The latter explained a few hours before ” don’t think you’ll be arrested ” according to information from New York Post.
A decision of the attorney for the southern district of New York
And the decision, without being surprising, was also not so expected. It must be said that Sam Bankman-Fried had been chaining quiet media outings for a little over a week during which he tried to exonerate himself. And despite some pretty mind-blowing statements, like the one explaining that fake bitcoins had been sold on FTX, or his outright refusal to testify before the Senate, his freedom didn’t seem to be so threatened.
However, the police in the Bahamas, where he had taken refuge since the bankruptcy of the cryptocurrency platform, finally decided to arrest him. She was pushed into this decision by information received from the United States government, which launched criminal proceedings, and “ should presumably seek extradition “.
An action led by New York Southern District Attorney Damian Williams, who confirmed the arrest. ” We plan to unseal the indictment in the morning, and we’ll have more to say then. he also added.
Disastrous management of FTX
While waiting to learn more about the operations carried out by Sam Bankman-Fried, the United States House Committee on Financial Services, which oversees the financial and banking sectors in the House of Representatives, will question the person in charge of the restructuring tomorrow. by FTX: John Ray III.
Already in charge 20 years ago of supervising the remains of Enron, an American company whose bankruptcy resulted from a major financial scandal, he was able to begin his work. And his first observations are striking. ” Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of reliable financial information as has happened here. ” did he declare.
In a preparatory note for his testimony before the House of Representatives, he established several problematic points. Among the irregularities cited, he explains in particular that the assets of FTX were mixed with those of Alameda, that the funds of the customers were used in operations of margins, exposing them to large losses. He also noted that between the end of 2021 and 2022, acquisitions and investments had been made for 5 billion dollars in assets that are now worth only a small fraction of this sum.
Source : The Verge
15