FTX founder Sam Bankman-Freed has been arrested by the Royal Bahamas Police Force after being formally notified by the U.S. government of a criminal case against him.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the former head of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was arrested by Bahamian authorities on Monday evening at the request of the US government. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams confirmed that he filed charges against Bankman-Fried on Monday, Dec. 12, with the contents of the indictment to be disclosed the following morning.
Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis said the Bahamas and the US have a common interest in bringing to justice individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed public trust and violated the law. He elaborated that while the US is pressing charges against Bankman-Freed in private, law enforcement in the Bahamas will continue their own investigation into the FTX collapse.
The New York Times, citing sources familiar with the matter, said the allegations against Bankman-Freed include wire and securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, and money laundering.
The United States Extradition Agreement with the Bahamas allows US Attorneys to return defendants to American soil if the charges are deemed punishable by at least a year in prison in both jurisdictions. The degree of punishment for the former head of FTX will depend on such a feature of the American criminal law system as legal dualism, which means that in the territory of each state the law of this state applies, and under certain conditions, federal law is additionally applied.
Recall that earlier Bankman-Fried was invited to the US Congress to voluntarily testify before the House of Representatives on Tuesday, December 13. However, the businessman vaguely refused , citing his lack of a complete picture of what was happening.
