Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of crypto exchange FTX, was back in custody on Monday after a brief appearance before a judge in Nassau, Bahamas, where he is being held pending extradition to the United States, local media reported, citing AFP. .
Charged by American justice with fraud and held in the Bahamas after his arrest a week ago, he finally decided not to fight his extradition to the United States, contrary to what he had originally planned.
He returned to prison on Monday after the hearing. One of his lawyers told the local news agency Eye Witness News that he had not been informed of the hearing.
Sam Bankman-Fried, who until two months ago was a rising star of the crypto industry and led a company valued at $32 billion at the beginning of the year, was accused last week of defrauding clients and investors who invested in his companies FTX and Alameda.
US Justice wants to try him on eight counts, including fraud, money laundering and violation of election law.
He is accused of using money deposited by clients who wanted to speculate in cryptocurrencies to fund the operation — and risky bets — of his brokerage firm and making investments in Alameda since FTX started in 2019.
He is also accused of lying to financiers who lent money to Alameda and FTX investors about the company’s true financial condition.
He also used money “stolen” from his clients to pay tens of millions of dollars to Democratic and Republican politicians in an effort to “buy influence” in Washington, according to New York federal prosecutor Damian Williams.
Last month in November, FTX filed for US bankruptcy protection and Sam Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO and was replaced by John J. Ray III.
FTX faced a severe liquidity crisis after users withdrew $6 billion worth of bitcoins from the platform in just 72 hours.
The company has been trying to raise money to stave off bankruptcy, and even ended negotiations with the Chinese from Binance, who planned to buy the crypto exchange. Meanwhile, they changed their minds and stopped buying FTX.
Photo: Dreamstime
Source: Hot News
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