Bahamian authorities have announced the arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the bankrupt cryptocurrency and other crypto assets trading platform FTX, following a «notice» from the United States that charges have been filed against him and in view of possible extradition.
Bahamian Attorney General Ryan Pinder said in a statement that «as a result of the notice received and the material delivered with it, it has been deemed appropriate for the Attorney General to request the arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried and that he remain in custody, in line with the Extradition Act.»
«At such time as a formal extradition request is made, The Bahamas plans to process it expeditiously, in line with Bahamian law and its treaty obligations with the United States,» Pinder stressed.
Police have also confirmed his arrest and detailed that it took place «shortly after 6 p.m. (local time) on Monday, December 12, at his apartment complex, located in Albany, Nassau».
«He was arrested in connection with several financial offenses against the laws of the United States, which are also so under the law of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. He was taken into custody without incident and will appear this Tuesday, December 13, before a Nassau court,» it specified.
For his part, Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis said that «The Bahamas and the United States have a common interest in holding accountable all persons associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and violated the law.
«While the United States has brought charges against Sam Bankman-Fried, The Bahamas will continue its criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX, with the continued cooperation of legal agencies and regulatory partners in the United States and elsewhere,» he reiterated.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan noted on its Twitter account that «Bahamian authorities have arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the U.S. Government through a sealed indictment filed by the Southern District of New York.»
FTX announced in mid-November that it had decided to avail itself of Chapter 11 protection under the U.S. Bankruptcy Act in order to conduct the asset valuation and liquidation process in an orderly manner for the benefit of the parties involved. He explained that the FTX Group process includes FTX US, as well as the trading firm Alameda Research and a total of 130 affiliated entities.
FTX’s solvency had been called into question after its rival Binance decided to back out of its intention to come to the platform’s rescue, after having carried out due diligence and in the face of the opening of investigations by government agencies in the United States.
Earlier, at a conference with investors, Bankman-Fried, still CEO of FTX, had put the platform’s hole at around $8 billion (a similar figure in euros), including the need for around $4 billion for the firm to maintain its solvency.
