FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Has Been Arrested

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of collapsed cryptocurrency trade FTX, has been arrested within the Bahamas on the request of U.S. authorities.

Officials in each the U.S. and the Bahamas confirmed Monday that Bankman-Fried (generally recognized by his initials, SBF) had been taken into custody. So far, it’s unclear precisely what fees have been leveled towards the disgraced tech government. A sealed indictment associated to the case might be unsealed tomorrow within the Southern District of New York, officers mentioned.

“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,” mentioned Damian Williams, U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of New York, in an announcement shared on Twitter Monday. “We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.”

The Bahamian authorities confirmed that Bankman-Fried’s arrest “followed receipt of formal notification from the United States that it has filed criminal charges against SBF and is likely to request his extradition.” Authorities additionally commented that after extraditing SBF to the states, the native authorities deliberate to proceed its personal legal investigation into FTX’s actions. FTX previously headquartered its enterprise within the Bahamas, and the nation’s regulation enforcement has already been wanting into the case.

“While the United States is pursuing criminal charges against SBF individually, the Bahamas will continue its own regulatory and criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX, with the continued cooperation of its law enforcement and regulatory partners in the United States and elsewhere,” mentioned Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, in an announcement.

FTX, which was as soon as the shining star of the cryptocurrency trade, imploded final month in an orgy of economic malfeasance that despatched shockwaves all through the web3 world. After admitting to mismanaging buyer belongings, SBF stepped down from his management position and FTX filed for chapter, sending different corporations that had been financially linked to the trade right into a tailspin.

An preliminary perusal of the corporate’s funds by the corporate’s new CEO seems to point out rampant monetary mismanagement. Additionally, billions of {dollars} in buyer funds are nonetheless lacking and nobody appears to know the place they’re.

Still, after presiding over probably the most spectacular company meltdowns in trendy historical past, Bankman-Fried in some way managed to stay a free man for what many deemed an unnaturally long time period. For weeks, commentators have puzzled when—and even if—the disgraced tech government would face authorized repercussions for the monetary mess his firm prompted. Instead of being positioned underneath arrest, nonetheless, the boyish tech tycoon spent the final a number of weeks engaged in a media-wooing “publicity tour”—giving interviews to main information networks, together with ABC and the New York Times.

Now, it might seem that tour has formally come to an finish. Bankman-Fried appears to be in various hassle—and so, it might seem, are different former FTX executives. It ought to be famous that the New York case associated to Bankman-Fried’s arrest contains three sealed indictments, portending different potential arrests of former high-ranking firm members.