Sam Bankman-Fried Arrested in the Bahamas amid US Criminal Charges

The Royal Bahamas Police arrested the Founder and former CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, on Monday evening (local time) after criminal charges were filed against him in the United States.

The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York shared a sealed indictment with the Bahamian government, requesting the arrest of Bankman-Fried. Now, the US authorities are expected to make an extradition request to get the custody of Bankman-Fried from the Bahamas police.

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

“SBF’s arrest followed receipt of formal notification from the United States that it had filed criminal charges against SBF and is likely to request his extradition,” the Bahamas Police said in a statement.

🚨Sam Bankman Fried was just arrested in the Bahamas by the Royal Bahamas Police Force! Faces “likely extradition.” pic.twitter.com/W4Y8vgPkY3

— Coffeezilla (@coffeebreak_YT) December 12, 2022

The charges against Bankman-Fried brought by the US attorney are not known yet. However, according to The New York Times, it could include wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering and related conspiracy charges. Bankman-Fried is also supposedly the only person named in the US indictment.

Law Enforcement Are After SBF

Once regarded as one of the reputed crypto entrepreneurs, Bankman-Fried’s FTX empire collapsed last month when his shady business practices were exposed. He allegedly used customer funds and built his businesses with a network of illegitimate loans and leverages. FTX, Alameda Research, and more than 130 other affiliates have now filed for bankruptcy protection.

Ahead of the arrest, Bankman-Fried was scheduled to testify virtually before the House Committee on Financial Services on Tuesday morning, addressing the collapse of FTX. The House Committee’s Chair, Chair Maxine Waters, said she was “surprised to hear” about the arrest, adding: “It’s about time the process to bring Mr Bankman-Fried to justice has begun… Although Mr Bankman-Fried must be held accountable, the American public deserves to hear directly from Mr Bankman-Fried about the actions that’ve harmed over one million people, and wiped out the hard-earned life savings of so many.”

Meanwhile, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is preparing to bring separate charges against Bankman-Fried, the Enforcement Director, Gurbir Grewal, confirmed.

“We commend our law enforcement partners for working to secure the arrest of Mr Sam Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas on federal criminal charges,” Grewal said. “The Securities and Exchange Commission has separately authorized charges relating to Mr Bankman-Fried’s violations of our securities laws, which will be filed publicly tomorrow in the Southern District of New York.”

Furthermore, Bahamas law enforcement brought civil and criminal charges against FTX. However, details of those charges have yet to be made public.