It had been thought the cryptocurrency magnate, who founded the exchange FTX, would combat being despatched to new york to stand fraud charges. however he appeared in a Nassau courtroom on Wednesday where he informed a judge he waived his “right to such formal extradition complaints”.
Thursday 22 December 2022 17:15, uk
Sam Bankman-Fried has been extradited to the united states from The Bahamas as he faces criminal charges relating to the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
authorities in the Bahamas stated the FTX founder had waived his right to challenge the extradition and Bankman-Fried was witnessed leaving a magistrate courtroom in Nasssau in a darkish SUV.
according to Reuters, a aircraft carrying the previous chief executive departed the Bahamas from a private airfield through Nassau’s airport.
Bankman-Fried is due to land at Westchester County Airport in new york and could in all likelihood seem in front of a US judge later on Thursday.
It comes after of his associates pleaded guilty to criminal charges associated with the FTX collapse.
Carolyn Ellison, former chief executive of Alameda research – a trading company started out by Bankman-Fried – and Gary Wang, who co-founded FTX, pleaded guilty to charges “associated with their role within the fraud that contributed to FTX’s collapse”, US legal professional Damian Williams said.
Bankman-Fried had earlier decided to agree to extradition in part out of a “desire to make the relevant customers complete”, according to the affidavit, that’s dated 20 December.
Disgraced ‘crypto king’ Sam Bankman-Fried released on $250m bail – the biggest in pretrial history
Does the extradition of one crypto’s highest-profile players mean virtual currencies are fundamentally unsound?
FTX collapse suggests crypto is ‘too risky’ no longer to regulate, bank of britain deputy governor says
His attorney told the judge that his patron was “anxious to go away”.
The hearing was adjourned after the statements.
Federal prosecutors in manhattan last week charged the cryptocurrency magnate with stealing billions of dollars in FTX customer assets to plug losses at his hedge fund, Alameda research, in what US legal professional Damian Williams referred to as “considered one of the largest financial frauds in American history”.
Bankman-Fried was arrested on a US extradition request last week in the Bahamas, where he lives and FTX is based totally.
He initially said he might contest extradition, but it become suggested over the weekend that he might reverse that decision.
Bankman-Fried has acknowledged risk-management failures at FTX but stated he does not believe he has criminal liability.
His non-public wealth is thought to have swelled to $20bn (£16.2bn) at the exchange’s peak, but has since reportedly shrunk to $100,000 (£83,000).
Wednesday’s hearing accompanied a confusing sequence of events this week that left the status of Bankman-Fried’s predicted extradition unclear.
On Monday, following the news reviews he had agreed to be extradited, Bankman-Fried arrived at the courthouse in a black van marked “Corrections” carrying a blue suit jacket and white shirt.
at the hearing, his neighborhood defence legal professional, Jerone Roberts, said he was not informed of the motive of the lawsuits.
After a short recess, Mr Roberts stated his client had seen a sworn statement outlining the charges towards him but wanted get entry to to the overall indictment before consenting to extradition.
The complaints had been then adjourned. They had been expected to resume on Tuesday morning, but Bankman-Fried’s legal papers had been now not filed in time.
Bankman-Fried rode a crypto boom to become a billionaire numerous instances over and an influential US political donor, before FTX’s crash worn out his wealth and tarnished his reputation.
The collapse was driven via a wave of customer withdrawals amid concerns over co-mingling of funds with Alameda.
The cryptoexchange declared bankruptcy on 11 november with Bankman-Fried stepping down as CEO the same day.