Sam Bankman Fried, founder and former chief executive officer of the bankrupt FTX.com exchange, was arrested and taken into custody by the Royal Bahamas Police on Monday at the request of the U.S. government, Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said on Twitter.
See related article: Sam Bankman-Fried says not aware of any improper use of funds in FTX downfall
Fast facts
- The arrest was based on a sealed indictment from the Southern District of New York, which will be unsealed on Tuesday morning in the U.S., according to Williams.
- “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,” Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis said in a statement, according to a CNBC report.
- The U.S. will likely request his extradition, Bahamas Attorney General Ryan Pinder said, according to CNBC.
- The collapse of Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange caused billions of dollars worth of losses worldwide, bringing accusations of operational misconduct previously undisclosed to users and investors.
- FTX, formerly one of the world’s largest trading platforms for cryptocurrencies and valued at US$32 billion earlier this year, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Nov. 11, along with Alameda Research and dozens of other affiliated companies.
See related article: FTX failure a ‘wake-up call’ for security, says former Mt Gox CEO Mark Karpeles