FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried agrees to be extradited to US, where he faces criminal charges
Cyptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried could be flown back to US soil as early as Wednesday afternoon, reports say
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Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the now-collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is preparing to head to the U.S. Wednesday to face charges after a Bahamas judge approved his extradition request.
The 30-year-old consented to be extradited in part of a "desire to make the relevant customers whole," his lawyer read from an affidavit inside a Bahamas courtroom, according to Reuters.
The decision enables Bankman-Fried to be flown to the U.S. as early as this afternoon, the news agency adds. Officials with the FBI and U.S. Marshals Service arrived in Nassau this morning, Reuters also reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Authorities arrested the disgraced crypto exchange founder in the Bahamas earlier in the month. He has since been hit with multiple charges from the Southern District of New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, center, is escorted from a Corrections Department van as he arrives at the Magistrate Court building for a hearing, in Nassau, Bahamas, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell / AP Newsroom)
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Earlier in the week, Bankman-Fried appeared to doze off during a hearing in which he did not agree to being extradited to the U.S.
The charges Bankman-Fried faces in the U.S. include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission and commit campaign finance violations, the Justice Department says.
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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, center, is escorted from a Corrections Department van as he arrives at the Magistrate Court building for a hearing, in Nassau, Bahamas, on Dec. 21. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell / AP Newsroom)
He faces accusations of allegedly having used FTX customer funds for "his personal use to make investments and million so dollars of political contributions to federal political candidates and committees and to repay billions of dollars in loans owed by Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency hedge fund also founded by the defendant," the DOJ said.
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Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder and chief executive officer of FTX, in Hong Kong, China. (Photographer: Lam Yik/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
FTX, once one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November along with Alameda Research, West Real Series and 130 affiliated companies. Bankman-Fried stepped down from the role of FTX’s CEO on the same day and handed the reins over former Enron liquidator John J. Ray III.
Last week, as part of its bankruptcy proceedings, FTX filed a motion seeking to sell four of its businesses.
FOX Business’ Aislinn Murphy, Marta Dhanis and Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.