Embattled founder of cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has been arrested in the Bahamas.
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), Damian Williams confirmed the arrest, which was first made public by the Bahamian authorities on Monday.
Williams said that Bankman-Fried was arrested by Bahamian authorities at the request of the US government.
“Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the U.S. Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY.
“We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time,” Williams said.
USA Damian Williams: Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the U.S. Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY. We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.
— US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) December 12, 2022
Director of the Enforcement Division at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gurbir Grewal lauded the SBF’s arrest.
Grewal, a former Attorney General of the State of New Jersey, said, “We commend our law enforcement partners for securing the arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried on federal criminal charges.
“The SEC has authorized separate charges relating to his violations of securities laws, to be filed publicly tomorrow in SDNY.”
Bankman-Fried’s arrest comes hours after he said he would testify before the US Congress.
The arrest is the latest travail of the fall-from-grace story of a one-time, Forbes-rated ‘Crypto Genius’ who once had a personal net worth of $26.5 billion.
Once ranked five places higher than Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote on the Bloomberg Billionaire Index, SBF at the height of his powers regaled adulating followers with long interviews about his incredible rise from his office in the Bahamas.
He will now be charged with wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and money laundering among others, the New York Times reported.
Recall that FTX, which was valued at $32 billion at its peak, filed for bankruptcy protection in November after the collapse of an acquisition deal involving rival exchange Binance.