WASHINGTON – Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced cryptocurrency entrepreneur, was detained on Monday in the Bahamas at the request of the US, according to US officials looking to charge him following the stunning failure of his FTX platform.
The arrest occurs the night before the 30-year-old tycoon was to testify under oath before a US Congress hearing about the crypto exchange’s sudden death.
Bankman-Fried has recently disregarded legal counsel and increased his media appearances, giving his explanation for his company’s abrupt demise, frequently through video link from the Bahamas, where his company is situated.
“Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the US Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the southern district of New York,” said a tweeted statement from Damian Williams, lead prosecutor for the district.
“We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time,” he added.
Bankman-Fried, more than anyone else, had symbolised the seeming transition of cryptocurrencies from disfavored get-rich-quick schemes scorned by the banking industry to legitimate investments.
The implosion of FTX, which had been valued at $32 billion, came quickly after a November 2 investigation on connections between FTX and Alameda, a trading firm that Bankman-Fried also owned.
The report revealed that a significant portion of Alameda’s financial structure was based on the FTX-created FTT coin, which had no independent worth.
