The Royal Bahamas Police Force has arrested the former CEO of bankrupt FTX exchange platform for possible extradition to the United States following the receipt of a formal notification of criminal charges.
The Attorney General of the Bahamas, Sen. Ryan Pinder KC disclosed on Monday, Investors King reports.
According to him, the United States has notified Bahamas that it has filed criminal charges against Sam Bankman-Fried and it is likely to request for his extradition down the line.
“As a result of the notification received and the material provided therewith, it was deemed appropriate for the Attorney General to seek SBF’s arrest and hold him in custody pursuant to our nation’s Extradition Act,” the statement signed by the Attorney General reads, in part.
At such time as a formal request for extradition is made, The Bahamas intends to process it promptly, pursuant to Bahamian law and its treaty obligations with the United States.
FTX exchange platform is a cryptocurrency exchange platform that recently filed for bankruptcy in a multibillion dollar fraud.With investors’ deposits running into billions and available cash or assets estimated at about $564 million, restructuring attorney James Bromley has described the situation most difficult in the history of corporate America.
Bromley called FTX’s failure “one of the most abrupt and difficult corporate collapses in the history of Corporate America.” He described the network of FTX entities as an international organization “run effectively as a personal fiefdom of Sam Bankman-Fried.”
Sam Bankman-Fried was scheduled to appear virtually before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee today before he was picked up.
Following his arrest, Rep. Maxine Waters, chairwoman of the committee, said Bankman-Fried would no longer give testimony as scheduled Tuesday.
Commenting on SBF’s arrest, Prime Minister Davis stated, “The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law. 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.”