Authorities in the Bahamas have arrested Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the failed crypto exchange FTX, at the request of the United States government.
According to a statement from the Bahamas Attorney General’s office, the former CEO of FTX was apprehended by the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
SBF’s arrest is the first significant step taken by regulators to hold people accountable for the multibillion-dollar collapse of FTX last month.
Prior to his arrest, Bankman-Fried was scheduled to testify virtually before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday. According to CNBC, SBF’s attorneys said he would not appear. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., expressed surprise at his arrest and disappointment that Congress would not be able to hear from him on Tuesday.
The United States will certainly request Bankman-Fried’s extradition. According to Pinder, the Bahamas will act quickly on any such request.
Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis stated:
“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.”
According to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York, the U.S. federal government planned to “unseal the indictment in the morning.”
USA Damian Williams: Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the U.S. Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY. We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.
— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) December 12, 2022
According to the New York Times, which cited a source with knowledge of the situation, the allegations include money laundering, securities fraud, wire fraud, and a conspiracy to commit wire fraud. When FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, the U.S. Department of Justice was actively investigating whether the corporation had fraudulently transferred hundreds of millions at that time.
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