Crypto villain Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in Bahamas • The Register
Bahamian authorities have arrested Sam Bankman-Fried, the previous CEO of collapsed crypto alternate FTX, after he was indicted on felony costs.
Information of Bankman-Fried’s cuffing arrived in a tweet from the Lawyer’s Workplace for the Southern District of New York, at round 7:00PM native time on Monday evening.
USA Damian Williams: Earlier this night, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried on the request of the U.S. Authorities, based mostly on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY. We anticipate to maneuver to unseal the indictment within the morning and could have extra to say at the moment.
— US Lawyer SDNY (@SDNYnews) December 12, 2022
Latrae L. Rahming, the director of communications on the workplace of the Bahamas prime minister, joined within the Twitter enjoyable by sharing the letter beneath confirming the arrest and including two essential particulars: felony costs have been filed in opposition to the previous CEO, and the US will doubtless search extradition.
On 12 December 2022, the Workplace of the Lawyer Basic of The Bahamas is saying the arrest by The Royal Bahamas Police Power of Sam Bankman-Fried (“SBF”), former CEO of FTX. pic.twitter.com/CRNeLPAbVp
— Latrae L. Rahming (DOC)🇧🇸 (@latraelrahming) December 12, 2022
Rahming later shared a press release from the Royal Bahamas Police Power that explains he was arrested for “Numerous Offences in opposition to legal guidelines of the US, that are additionally offences in opposition to the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.”
A Assertion from the Royal Bahamas Police Power on the arrest of Samual Benjamin Bankman-Fried.
Police want to inform that 30-year-old SAMUEL BENJAMIN BANKMAN-FRIED of California, U.S.A, has been arrested. pic.twitter.com/Mr85S2fzcN
— Latrae L. Rahming (DOC)🇧🇸 (@latraelrahming) December 13, 2022
No data has emerged relating to the fees Bankman-Fried will face, but it surely seems he’ll entrance a US courtroom to defend them.
Information of the arrest comes simply over a month after FTX collapsed leaving round $8 billion of consumers’ funds inaccessible.
FTX gained a lot of these clients by selling itself as a secure and safe possibility – akin to a financial institution – for individuals who spend money on cryptocurrency and different tokenized property.
But it surely has since emerged that the corporate made solely token efforts at governance and didn’t even hassle to maintain an inventory of its financial institution accounts. Allegedly FTX additionally loaned clients’ funds to a associated firm, Alameda Analysis, to assist it cowl losses on crypto trades.
Because the crypto market roiled, that mortgage created a liquidity disaster at FTX. An try to promote FTX to rival Binance imploded as soon as the latter firm noticed FTX’s books and ran a mile to keep away from any whiff of an entanglement or affiliation.
The details of the case imply The Register imagines the US Lawyer’s Workplace has a smorgasbord of potential crimes with which to cost Bankman-Fried.
As soon as the indictment is unsealed, we’ll deliver you information of which particular costs he faces. ®
