Sam Bankman-Fried may quickly be headed for a U.S. jail to face fraud fees. The previous CEO of FTX—the cryptocurrency alternate that went abruptly bankrupt final month—is at the moment being held in a jail within the Bahamas.
Bahamian authorities arrested him on Monday following a proper notification by the U.S. authorities that it had filed prison fees in opposition to him and would probably request his extradition. The U.S. and the Bahamas have had an extradition course of in place since 1994, when a treaty signed by each international locations got here into drive.
On Tuesday, a Bahamian choose denied him bail, deeming him a flight threat. Through the arraignment proceedings, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer mentioned he would battle plans to ship him to the U.S., and an extradition listening to was set for Feb. 8.
However now Bankman-Fried is anticipated to look in a Bahamian courtroom on Monday to reverse his determination to contest extradition, Reuters reported.
Federal prosecutors in New York have charged Bankman-Fried with eight prison counts, together with conspiracy and wire fraud, for allegedly misusing billions of {dollars} in clients’ funds. He faces as much as 115 years in jail if convicted on all eight counts.
‘Open and shut case for fraud’
Final month, billionaire Mark Cuban mentioned he’d “be afraid of going to jail for a very long time” if he have been Bankman-Fried.
And earlier this month, Mind Armstrong, CEO of the U.S.-based crypto alternate Coinbase, mentioned it was “baffling” why Bankman-Fried wasn’t already in jail.
“The DOJ or anyone ought to have the ability to make—simply primarily based on his public statements, I feel there’s a really open and shut case for fraud,” Armstrong mentioned on the a16z crypto Founder Summit.
FTX’s implosion final month stunned many inside and out of doors of the crypto sector. The $32 billion alternate had established itself as a frontrunner within the area, having enlisted star athletes like Tom Brady and different celebrities to bolster its picture.
Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO on Nov. 11, the identical day that FTX filed for chapter. A key accusation leveled in opposition to him is that he used buyer funds from his crypto alternate to fund dangerous bets at Alameda Analysis, his misleadingly named crypto hedge fund.
FTX relies within the Bahamas, the place Bankman-Fried reportedly loved an opulent penthouse way of life.
He’s now being held at Fox Hill jail within the Bahamas, in line with Reuters, a jail described as “harsh” by the U.S. State Division final yr, with overcrowding and a rodent infestation on the time.
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