Sam Bankman-Fried, the creator of FTX, has been detained and is on the way to the United States at the request of the American government, according to a sealed indictment. The American government requested the arrest.
The Arrest
Just one day before the disgraced former CEO of FTX was scheduled to appear before Congress; Sam Bankman-Fried was taken into custody by police in the Bahamas at the request of the United States government. According to a December 12 statement from the Bahamas Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Ryan Pinder, Bankman-Fried, was detained by the Royal Bahamas Police Force following a formal notification from the U.S. government that it had brought criminal charges against him.
The New York Times reported (1) on December 12 that a person with knowledge of the situation Charges brought against Bankman-Fried include money laundering and conspiracy to conduct wire and securities fraud. According to Pinder, the Bahamas would “promptly” handle any extradition request, anticipating that the United States would ask for Bankman-extradition. Philip Davis, the prime minister of the Bahamas, claimed that both nations had “a common interest in holding responsible those people affiliated with FTX who may have breached the public trust and broken the law.
What’s to happen next?
Using a sealed indictment it filed and intended to unseal “in the morning,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York tweeted on December 12 that police in the Bahamas had detained Bankman-Fried.
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 a December 10 Bloomberg article (2), New York City prosecutors FBI agents, To discuss the documentation investigators seek, authorities met with FTX’s attorneys. When FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) was “closely” scrutinizing whether the corporation had fraudulently moved hundreds of millions.
According to Pinder’s announcement on November 27 that the Securities Commission (3), Financial Intelligence Unit, and Police’s Financial Crimes Unit were all engaged, Bahamian authorities were also conducting their own “active and ongoing” investigation into FTX. A day before he was scheduled to appear remotely to testify before the House Committee on Financial Services in a hearing looking into the collapse of the exchange, Bankman-Fried was arrested.
