FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried changes his mind on US extradition

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Disgraced crypto tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) told a Bahamian court today that he no longer intends to fight extradition to the United States, after previously opposed to this decision. However, the plan surprised his attorney, causing confusion in the courtroom, and the judge ultimately sent the FTX founder back to jail.

Bankman-Fried is facing criminal charges in the United States related to the recent collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, and today said he has changed his mind about fighting extradition from the Bahamas . However, SBF’s Bahamian attorney, Jerone Roberts, said he was unaware of his client’s changing intentions.

Whatever lead brought him here this morning did not involve me, Roberts told Magistrate Judge Shaka Serville, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

The founder and former CEO of FTX was apparently ready to leave the Bahamas to face charges in the United States, with Bloomberg citing a source with direct knowledge of the decision who claimed Bankman-Fried believed he could secure bail in the States. -United.

No decision was made on Monday before Bankman-Fried was returned to prison. He is then due in court on February 8, although a hearing could be called before then.

Media reported over the weekend that SBF was considering dropping its fight against extradition after spending several days in a Bahamian jail. Decrypt did not receive an immediate response from the SBF spokesperson.

Bahamian police arrested SBF last week because collapsed crypto exchange FTX is based in the Caribbean country. U.S. authorities had sought his arrest, and the Complex Fraud and Cybercrime Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York hit SBF with eight criminal charges, including wire fraud and money laundering, December 13.

Crypto exchange FTX went bankrupt last month in a highly publicized collapse. The company allowed clients to buy, sell and store many digital assets, as well as bet on future crypto prices through derivatives, and was one of the most popular exchanges in the world. .

But things turned sour after it became clear that the company did not have sufficient funds to support client assets. This was allegedly because trading company Alameda Research, also founded by Bankman-Fried, had the ability to use FTX client assets for its own purposes and without oversight, according to new FTX CEO John J. Ray III. .

Ray said the business exploded because it was run by “a very small group of grossly inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals”. Meanwhile, James Bromley, an attorney for FTX’s new management, described the stock market crash as “one of the sharpest and most difficult collapses in American corporate history.”

SBF, which has courted politicians and made huge donations to Democrats and Republicans, has denied knowingly doing anything illegal. Prior to his arrest, Bankman-Fried gave a series of public interviews and claimed he would try to recover client funds that went up in smoke.

At least $8 billion in assets are missing following the collapse of the exchange. The collapse of FTX has prompted U.S. lawmakers to renew their efforts to regulate the rapidly changing and complex crypto industry, with a new bill introduced by Senators Warren and Marshall amid Senate hearings on the collapse of FTX.

Editor’s note: This story was updated after publication with new information.

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