FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (second from left) was handcuffed by Royal Bahamas Police Force officers in Nassau. Bahamas on December 13, 2022
Mario Duncanson | AFP | Getty Images
FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried He will no longer contest his extradition to the US, a matter he faces just days following he was sent to a Bahamas jail for awaiting trial. A person familiar with the matter told CNBC.
The former crypto billionaire will appear in a Bahamian court on Monday to formally waive his extradition rights. This would pave the way for federal officials to guarantee his return to the United States.
Extradition between the Bahamas and the United States is dictated by a 1991 treaty. In practice, this process takes months or even years to complete. Because the accused has multiple appeals, Bankman-Fried’s legal team It had initially said it planned to fight extradition. The change of heart will postpone the timeline for a federal trial of Bankman-Fried significantly
The 30-year-old MIT graduate was originally scheduled to face the next hearing in February 2023.
Agent Bankman-Fried declined to comment
Bankman-Fried It was filed in New York federal court on Monday. on phone fraud charges securities fraud United States fraud conspiracy and money laundering if sentenced He faces life imprisonment. The former FTX CEO also faces concurrent accusations from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over similar allegations that he worked to defraud FTX clients worth billions of dollars since 2009. 2019, the year the exchange was founded
heart of the kingdom Bankman-Fried is Alameda Research, a crypto hedge fund that federal regulators accused of using FTX client funds to trade, losing billions of dollars.
The fall of FTX was precipitated when a report by CoinDesk revealed highly concentrated positions in the FTT itself, which Alameda Research, the cryptocurrency hedge fund, said. Bankman-Fried Used as collateral for billions of crypto loans, rival exchange Binance announced it would sell its stake in FTT, prompting massive withdrawals. The company freezes its assets and declares bankruptcy the next day. Charges from the SEC and CFTC state that FTX pooled client funds into cryptocurrency hedge funds. Bankman-Fried, Alameda Research and billions of customer deposits disappeared along the way.
