Disgraced FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried has indicated he’s preparing to be extradited to the US from the Bahamas as soon as Monday, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
(Bloomberg) — Disgraced FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried has indicated he’s preparing to be extradited to the US from the Bahamas as soon as Monday, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.
Bankman-Fried is expected to disclose that he won’t fight extradition in a court appearance in Nassau on Dec. 19. The former FTX chief executive officer has been locked up in the Bahamas since last Monday, when he was arrested at the request of US prosecutors in Manhattan who have accused him of a range of crimes including wire fraud.
Agreeing to being sent to the US to face charges would be a remarkable reversal: His lawyers last week said he planned to fight extradition. The potential change is in part tied to the expectation that he’ll be able to get bail in the US, according to the person, who asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Before his arrest, in numerous interviews following FTX’s implosion last month, the 30-year-old denied knowingly committing fraud or breaking the law. Representatives for Bankman-Fried and the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which has been handling the case, declined to comment on Monday.
Since being denied bail in the Bahamas court last week, Bankman-Fried has been in a notorious correctional facility on the outskirts of Nassau known as Fox Hill.
FTX and scores of related companies declared bankruptcy last month after three years of frenetic growth. At its peak, the exchange was worth $32 billion.
Authorities in both the Bahamas and the US are continuing to probe Bankman-Fried’s involvement in FTX’s collapse last month. The firm was headquartered in the Bahamas.
–With assistance from Ava Benny-Morrison and Jim Wyss.
(Updates with details on decision starting in fourth paragraph.)
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