- Sam Bankman Fried has been arrested by the Royal Bahamas police force.
- SBF was arrested when the US government filed criminal charges against him.
Sam Bankman Fried, the CEO of the shuttered crypto exchange FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas on December 12 after US prosecutors filed criminal charges. According to an announcement from the Bahamas Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Ryan Pinder, SBF was arrested by the Royal Bahamas police force following formal notification from the US government that criminal charges had been issued against him.
Although the accusation remains confidential, a tweet from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York revealed that prosecutors in the United States accused Bankman-Fired.
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
Allegations Against SBF
According to the New York Times, Bankman Fried faces additional allegations, including wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering, according to a source familiar with the situation.
The U.S. has demanded the extradition of Bankman-Fried, and Pinder has stated that the Bahamas will process any extradition request as soon as possible. In addition, Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis stated that the nation would pursue its own inquiry into FTX’s collapse, in moreover to the criminal charges filed by the United States.
On Tuesday, SBF was scheduled to testify digitally before the House Financial Services Committee regarding the exchange’s demise. Chair Maxine Water stated in a statement that she was surprised to hear of the arrest at the request of the US Attorney’s Office. She also noted that SBF’s actions had impacted many people.
As we all know, in Mr. Bankman-Fried’s testimony before our Committee tomorrow morning, the California Democrat said that They received confirmation this afternoon from SBF and his lawyers that he was still planning to come before the Committee tomorrow, but then he was arrested.