Sam Bankman-Fried appeared in magistrates’ court docket within the Bahamas on Monday as his attorneys mentioned he’ll comply with be extradited to the US to face fraud fees associated to the collapse of cryptocurrency alternate FTX.
The FTX founder was arrested in Nassau final week and had been resisting extradition to New York following his indictment in Manhattan on US federal fraud and money-laundering fees.
Bankman-Fried was extensively anticipated to reverse his determination and settle for extradition in court docket on Monday, however the transfer was delayed after his native lawyer, Jerone Roberts, instructed the court docket he was unaware of the choice. Justice of the Peace Shaka Serville twice adjourned proceedings to permit Bankman-Fried to confer together with his attorneys and name his US attorneys, native information reported.
Bankman-Fried left the courthouse round 1pm native time with out having agreed to be despatched to the US, in response to Reuters. Nonetheless, two of his attorneys later instructed native media Bankman-Fried would comply with voluntary extradition. An individual with direct information of the matter confirmed Bankman-Fried’s intentions.
Roberts instructed native media he hoped Bankman-Fried might return to court docket later this week to formalise his determination to finish the extradition battle.
Bankman-Fried arrived on the Nassau courthouse simply after 10am native time on Monday, pulling up in a black police van beneath heavy guard from the jail the place he was being held. The fees introduced in opposition to him final week within the Southern District of New York allege he orchestrated “one of many biggest financial frauds in American historical past”.
He has denied wrongdoing.
A court docket within the Bahamas final week denied Bankman-Fried bail, saying there was a danger he would attempt to flee. The 30-year-old has since been held at Fox Hill Jail in Nassau. The ability has been criticised in worldwide stories for overcrowding and missing sanitation.
Bankman-Fried would have a brand new alternative to hunt launch on bail within the US following extradition. He additionally faces civil fees from the US Securities and Alternate Fee and the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee, which allege he misled traders and funnelled buyer cash entrusted to the FTX alternate to his non-public buying and selling firm Alameda Analysis.
If convicted, Bankman-Fried might face a most sentence of greater than 100 years in jail, in response to authorized specialists.
FTX, as soon as valued at $32bn by blue-chip traders together with Sequoia Capital and BlackRock, collapsed into Chapter 11 chapter safety in Delaware in November after being unable to fulfill a wave of consumer calls for to withdraw their funds. The corporate might have greater than 1mn collectors, in response to chapter filings.
Bankman-Fried had lived in Nassau, in a $30mn penthouse on the luxurious Albany complicated, since FTX relocated to the Bahamas from Hong Kong late final yr after the Caribbean nation set out a bespoke regulatory regime for digital belongings.
