Sam Bankman-Fried May Be Extradited to US Amid FTX Investigation

Authorities in the United States and the Bahamas are discussing the possibility of bringing Sam Bankman-Fried to the US for questioning as new charges against FTX and its former CEO were unveiled on Wednesday. The collapse of SBF’s crypto exchange FTX, which filed for bankruptcy in the US last week, has raised fears about the future of the crypto industry after it revealed a ‘major revenue crisis’. Since then, regulators have opened an investigation and lawmakers have called for clearer rules on how the industry operates.

Citing multiple sources involved in the negotiations, Bloomberg reports he said that “negotiations between law enforcement officials in both countries have intensified in recent days,” and that Bankman-Fried is “cooperating” with Bahamian authorities, who interviewed him on Saturday.

The report said no one involved in the FTX and Alameda crashes has been arrested or is currently in custody. The US Department of Justice, the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, and the Royal Bahamas Police Criminal Units all declined to comment as of Wednesday morning.

In addition to the former CEO, FTX founder Gary Wang and engineering director Nishad Singh are still in the Bahamas and remain “under the supervision” of local authorities. Over the weekend there were rumors that Bankman-Fried and Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison wanted to flee to Dubai.

On Tuesday evening, SBF posted a series of tweets saying “all the best [his] information,” Alameda had more (illegal) assets than marketed loans; Alameda had a margin position in FTX International; and that FTX.US still had enough to pay all its customers. “Not everyone agrees with this,” he wrote. . . .

He said his sole purpose was to “do the right thing by customers” and that he was meeting personally with regulators. He did not specify which controllers, representing which countries. He said there is a lot of energy, “more than I realized. The rush to the bank and the market has exhausted the energy of money.”