Dec 17 (Reuters) – Former FTX Chief Govt Sam Bankman-Fried is predicted to look in court docket within the Bahamas on Monday to reverse his determination to contest extradition to the USA, the place he faces fraud prices, an individual accustomed to the matter stated on Saturday.
The 30-year-old cryptocurrency mogul was indicted in federal court docket in Manhattan on Tuesday and accused of partaking in a scheme to defraud FTX prospects by utilizing billions of {dollars} in stolen deposits to pay for bills and money owed and to make investments for his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Analysis LLC.
His determination to consent to extradition would pave the way in which for him to look in U.S. court docket to face wire fraud, cash laundering and marketing campaign finance prices.
Upon arrival in the USA, Bankman-Fried would doubtless be held on the Metropolitan Detention Middle in Brooklyn, although some federal defendants are being held at jails simply exterior New York Metropolis as a result of overcrowding on the facility, stated protection lawyer Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma.
At his preliminary court docket listening to in Manhattan, Bankman-Fried could be requested to enter a plea and a decide would make a dedication on bail, Margulis-Ohnuma stated. The lawyer added that such a listening to should happen inside 48 hours of Bankman-Fried’s arrival in the USA, although it could doubtless be sooner.
Prosecutors will doubtless argue that Bankman-Fried is a flight threat and will stay in custody due to the massive sums of cash concerned within the case and the unclear location of these funds.
“The lacking cash provides prosecutors robust arguments that he’s a flight threat,” stated former federal prosecutor and white-collar protection lawyer Michael Weinstein. “I anticipate that if a decide grants pretrial launch, they’d impose very restrictive and onerous situations.”
Any trial is probably going greater than a 12 months away, authorized consultants instructed Reuters.
A spokesman for Bankman-Fried declined to remark. Bankman-Fried has acknowledged threat administration failings at FTX however has stated he doesn’t consider he has prison legal responsibility.
A spokesman for the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace in Manhattan declined to remark.
‘BIGGEST FINANCIAL FRAUDS IN AMERICAN HISTORY’
It was not instantly clear what prompted Bankman-Fried to vary his thoughts and determine to not contest extradition.
He was remanded on Tuesday to the Bahamas’ Fox Hill jail after Chief Justice of the Peace JoyAnn Ferguson-Pratt rejected his request to stay at dwelling whereas awaiting a listening to on his extradition.
The U.S. State Division in a 2021 report stated situations at Fox Hill had been “harsh,” citing overcrowding, rodent infestation and prisoners counting on buckets as bogs. Authorities there say situations have since improved.
Bankman-Fried amassed a fortune valued at over $20 billion as he rode a cryptocurrency growth to construct FTX into one of many world’s largest exchanges. His arrest final Monday within the Bahamas, the place he lives and the place FTX relies, got here only a month after the alternate collapsed amid a flurry of buyer withdrawals.
Damian Williams, the highest federal prosecutor in Manhattan, described the collapse of FTX as one of many “greatest monetary frauds in American historical past.” He has described the workplace’s investigation as ongoing, and urged individuals with information of wrongdoing at FTX or Alameda to cooperate.
One high govt at FTX, Ryan Salame, instructed securities regulators within the Bahamas on Nov. 9 that belongings belonging to the alternate’s prospects had been transferred to Alameda to cowl the hedge fund’s losses, in keeping with a doc made public as a part of FTX’s chapter proceedings in Delaware.
FTX filed for chapter on Nov. 11, the identical day Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO.
A lawyer for Salame didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Reporting by Jasper Ward; Extra reporting by Luc Cohen and Jack Queen; Writing by Luc Cohen; Modifying by Chizu Nomiyama, Chris Reese, Amy Stevens and Jonathan Oatis
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