Unique-Sam Bankman-Fried to reverse choice on contesting extradition By Reuters

By Jasper Ward

(Reuters) – Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is predicted to seem in courtroom within the Bahamas on Monday to reverse his choice to contest extradition to the US, the place he faces fraud prices, an individual aware of the matter stated on Saturday.

The cryptocurrency mogul was indicted in federal courtroom in Manhattan on Dec. 13 and accused of partaking in a scheme to defraud FTX clients.

His choice to consent to extradition would pave the best way for him to seem in U.S. courtroom to face prices of utilizing stolen buyer deposits to pay for bills and money owed and to make investments on behalf of his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Analysis LLC.

Nonetheless, any trial is probably going greater than a yr away, authorized consultants advised Reuters.

Bankman-Fried, 30, was arrested on Dec. 12 within the Bahamas, the place he lives and the place FTX is predicated. He was remanded on Tuesday to the Caribbean nation’s Fox Hill jail after Chief Justice of the Peace JoyAnn Ferguson rejected his request to stay at dwelling whereas awaiting a listening to on his extradition to the US.

Neither a spokesman nor a U.S.-based lawyer for Bankman-Fried instantly responded to requests for remark. A spokesman for the U.S. Legal professional’s workplace in Manhattan declined to remark.

Bankman-Fried had made a brand new bail software earlier than the Bahamas Supreme Courtroom on Thursday, an individual aware of the matter advised Reuters on the time.

Bankman-Fried amassed a fortune valued at over $20 billion as he rode a cryptocurrency growth to construct FTX into one of many world’s largest exchanges earlier than it abruptly collapsed this yr.

Damian Williams, the highest federal prosecutor in Manhattan, described the collapse of FTX as one of many “greatest monetary frauds in American historical past.” Bankman-Fried has acknowledged danger administration failures at FTX however has stated he didn’t imagine he had any felony legal responsibility.

It was not instantly clear what prompted Bankman-Fried to alter his thoughts and determine to not contest extradition.

The U.S. State Division in a 2021 report stated situations at Fox Hill had been “harsh,” citing overcrowding, rodent infestation and prisoners counting on buckets as bogs. Authorities there say situations have since improved.

Bankman-Fried faces as much as 115 years in jail if finally convicted of all eight counts he faces in the US, although any sentence would finally be decided by a decide based mostly on a variety of things.