Reports hitting the desk of Africa Today News, New York has it that the founder of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried has been nabbed in the Bahamas after prosecutors in the United States filed criminal charges against the crypto entrepreneur.
The arrest marks a remarkable fall for the 30-year-old crypto wunderkind, who was once worth an estimated $26.5bn, after he attracted investors ranging from BlackRock to NFL star Tom Brady and was among the most well-connected and biggest political donors in Washington.
Africa Today News, New York gathered that Bankman-Fried was arrested by authorities in the Caribbean nation after US prosecutors notified them they had filed charges and would likely seek his extradition, the Office of the Attorney General of the Bahamas said in a statement on Monday.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York confirmed Bankman-Fried’s arrest but declined to comment on the nature of the charges.
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‘Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the US Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York,’ prosecutor Damian Williams said in a statement.
‘We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.’
The charges against Bankman-Fried, who was once ranked as the world’s second-richest millennial after Mark Zuckerberg, include wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and money laundering, the New York Times reported, citing an unnamed source with knowledge of the matter.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission, which is responsible for civil enforcement and administrative actions, said it separately authorised charges related to Bankman-Fried’s alleged violations of securities laws.