Former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried is predicted to look in Bahamian courtroom on Monday and conform to US extradition.
Bankman-Fried was arrested in The Bahamas final week on the US authorities’s request, leaving his luxurious penthouse for a jail cell.
The Bahamas has an extradition treaty with the US however the course of isn’t clear-cut and may take weeks. 30-year-old Bankman-Fried is on the whim of Bahamian authorities as they “function on their very own timeline,” a supply aware of the matter informed Blockworks.
The previous FTX CEO is charged with eight prison counts together with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, cash laundering and conspiracy to keep away from marketing campaign finance rules. Prosecutors declare he was engaged in prison exercise since 2019 and didn’t cease till Nov. 2022.
If convicted of all eight costs, Bankman-Fried could possibly be in jail for as much as 115 years, per the Division of Justice’s indictment.
Following his arrival within the US, he’s anticipated to attend federal trial courtroom within the Southern District of New York, the supply mentioned. The event was first reported by Reuters. Bankman-Fried initially declined to waive his proper to battle his extradition upon his arrest.
Protection lawyer Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma informed Reuters the defamed crypto mogul will both be confined on the Metropolitan Detention Heart in Brooklyn or be taken to a different facility outdoors the town. Blockworks reached out to Margulis-Ohnuma for remark.
When Bankman-Fried seems in US courtroom, he will likely be anticipated to enter a plea, after which a choose would attain a bail willpower. He was denied bail in The Bahamas final week and was pictured leaving a courtroom in handcuffs.
Bankman-Fried attorneys up forward of extradition listening to
Bankman-Fried’s arrest was the primary strong transfer by regulators to carry somebody answerable for FTX’s multibillion-dollar implosion. He has employed Mark Cohen as his legal professional, the identical lawyer who represented Ghislaine Maxwell in her intercourse trafficking trial.
FTX’s shock implosion in November coincided with allegations of the crypto trade directing consumer funds to sister buying and selling agency Alameda Analysis.
New CEO John J. Ray III has mentioned FTX went on a “spending binge” between 2019 and 2022 throughout which $5 billion was spent on a “myriad of companies and investments” which can have been value solely a fraction of what was paid.
Throughout one in every of his a number of latest media appearances, Bankman-Fried didn’t explicitly rule out the chance of a comeback try. He mentioned he’d “give something to have the ability to [pay users back]” and that he would attempt if he might — though that was earlier than his arrest.
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