Indicted FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried agreed to be extradited from the Bahamas to the United States on Tuesday, according to a Bahamian court official.
According to Doan Cleare, the acting commissioner of corrections for the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services, the paperwork has been filed with the court, and Bankman-Fried will fly to the United States on Wednesday.
Bankman-Fried, 30, is accused of stealing billions of dollars from FTX, a massive cryptocurrency exchange that went bankrupt in November.
On December 12, he was arrested in the Bahamas, and the next day, a federal indictment charging him with fraud, money laundering, and campaign finance violations was unsealed. Prosecutors say he also made “tens of millions of dollars in illegal campaign contributions” to both Democratic and Republican candidates and campaign committees.
According to the Justice Department, the alleged customer fraud began in 2019.
According to Gretchen Lowe, acting director of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s Enforcement Division, customer losses total more than $8 billion.
FTX was once reportedly valued at $32 billion and regarded as the industry’s face. The MIT-educated Bankman-Fried had been dubbed a crypto genius.
Bankman-attorneys Fried’s previously stated that he would fight extradition.
Bankman-Fried can apply for bail once he returns to the United States. A Bahamian judge denied his bail request last week.
If convicted, he could be imprisoned for the rest of his life.
