Sam Bankman-Fried, the former boss of cryptocurrency exchange FTX who went bankrupt and fell into poverty, has reportedly been arrested by Bahamian authorities. The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York confirmed on its social media account.
"Earlier tonight, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the US Government, based on closed charges filed by SDNY," the tweet said. "We hope to unseal the charges in the morning and will have more to say at that time."
The Royal Bahamas Police, the Attorney General's Office, and the Ministry of Justice did not immediately respond to Insiders' requests for comment. However, not long after the US Attorney's tweet, the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis, spoke out about the arrest.
"The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and violated the law," Bahamas Prime Minister Philip Davis said in a press release from the Bahamas Attorney General's Office.
Even if Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas, where he currently resides, prosecutors could have the legal tools to extradite him to the US, according to experts.
Bankman-Fried's arrest came after FTX and its affiliated companies filed for bankruptcy in mid-November. He and his colleagues are facing accusations that they illegally misappropriated FTX customer funds to prop up Bankman-Fried crypto trading firm Alameda Research, resulting in billions of dollars in lost customer funds.
Bankman-Fried has been on a media tour of the defense. Recently he denied fraud to the New York Times.
The man who was once praised as the 'King of Crypto' also denied the hobby of buying luxury homes. Bankman-Fried admitted that he did not know how the house could be purchased on behalf of his parents, even though it was actually intended for the residence of FTX employees.
"I don't know the details of the house for my parents. It's not their property in the long term. The goal is for it to become company property. I don't know how it's papered," he said.
Bankman-Fried is expected to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday. It's unclear whether that will happen on schedule.