Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of bankrupt crypto trading firm FTX, will reportedly not receive any special treatment in a Bahamas prison. The prison was reportedly disgusting, infested with rats and maggots and inhumane.
The 30-year-old man accused of embezzling funds from FTX customers and threatened with extradition to the United States is being held at Fox Hill, a notorious prison in Nassau that human rights officials say is in poor medical and sanitary conditions.
As quoted by us from the New York Post, Doan Cleare, the Caribbean official, dismissed that Bankman, who was once one of the richest people in the world, would be given special treatment.
Instead, Cleare told the website Bahama Eyewitness News that Bankman would be put in the same spot as everyone else. Bankman will share a room with five other inmates in one cell.
Cleare rejected reports in US media that the prison was inhumane. "He's in good spirits," Cleare said. "He got his medication on time. Only in-person attorney visits are allowed at this time, along with personnel from the American Embassy. Everything else will be via video conferencing."
Cleare said the warden had asked the Bankman-Fried family to bring special food as needed. Bankman himself suffers from depression and must regularly take medication.
Legal experts say the extradition process could drag on for months, even years. Bankman might come to the conclusion he would be better off to the US than languishing in a prison cell in the Bahamas.
"He's not going to get special treatment from the inmates and guards, like he has in his condo. Finally, he's going to say 'I don't want to spend another few years in this place, what are my alternatives?' call a legal expert.