Sam Bankman-Fried, the former boss of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is flying back to the United States as early as Wednesday.
This was revealed by Doan Cleare, the acting commissioner of corrections for the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services, according to a new report by NBC News.
- Bankman-Fried, who is currently in the Fox Hill jail of the Bahamas, declined to waive his right to challenge extradition to the United States and signed the necessary paperwork for the process.
- Cleare did not reveal the reason behind the move but noted that fighting the extradition could take years.
- In a statement to the Bahamanian newspaper, he said that Bankman-Fried would prefer to spend that time in the US than the Bahamas despite the island nation being home to FTX since 2021.
- Jerone Roberts – the attorney representing SBF – confirmed that the former exec “voluntarily agreed to be voluntarily extradited to the United States of America.”
- Certain reports claimed that the FTX founder will be escorted by FBI agents in a non-commercial aircraft.
- Bankman-Fried was arrested by Bahamian police on December 12th and held at the notorious Fox Hill prison.
- The 30-year-old is accused of misappropriating billions of dollars deposited in the crypto exchange FTX that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month.
- The day after his arrest, a Bahamian judge denied Bankman-Fried’s request for bail, calling the former billionaire a flight risk.
- The exec is facing a litany of charges brought by three separate government agencies – the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).