It is an arrest of particular interest to the United States. Sam Bankman-Fried, the fallen cryptocurrency star and former boss of the FTX platform, was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday at the request of US authorities, announced Damian Williams, a New York prosecutor. “We will have more information to give on the indictment” this Tuesday morning, he said.
“SBF” had been making media appearances for a month, despite the risk of a lawsuit for fraud after the spectacular implosion of the company, valued at 32 billion dollars at the start of the year. The United States has “filed a complaint” against the 30-year-old and “will probably request his extradition”, for his part explained the Attorney General of the Bahamas, Ryan Pinder.
The Bahamas will conduct its own “criminal investigation”
Both countries “have an interest in holding accountable individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law,” said Philip Davis, the kingdom’s prime minister. The Bahamas will conduct its own “criminal investigation into the collapse of FTX”, he added.
Sam Bankman-Fried was supposed to speak before a House of Representatives committee on Tuesday, as was John Ray, the new boss of FTX. The ex-executives of the bankrupt platform have shown a “complete failure” at all levels of control, spending without really counting the money of their customers, said Monday John Ray, in a document published the day before. hearing in Congress.
At first glance, “the collapse of the FTX group appears to be the result of the absolute concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of grossly inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals, who have not implemented any of the systems or controls required for a company entrusted with other people’s money or assets,” the official stressed.
Considered one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, FTX was suddenly unable to return the money they had deposited there to its customers in early November. The group announced its bankruptcy filing on November 11.