NASSAU, Dec 21 (Reuters) – Sam Bankman-Fried will likely be taken to the airport in The Bahamas at 6 p.m. EST (2300 GMT) on Wednesday, an individual accustomed to the matter stated, after the FTX founder was taken to jail following a courthouse look the place he consented to be extradited to america.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan final week charged the 30-year-old cryptocurrency mogul with stealing billions of {dollars} in FTX buyer property to plug losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Analysis, in what U.S. Legal professional Damian Williams known as “one of many greatest monetary frauds in American historical past.”
Bankman-Fried left the courthouse, surrounded by guards with assault weapons, and entered a car, in keeping with Reuters Video.
Bankman-Fried was arrested on a U.S. extradition request final week in The Bahamas, the place he lives and the place FTX relies. He initially stated he would contest extradition, however Reuters and different retailers reported over the weekend that he would reverse that call.
Bankman-Fried determined to comply with extradition partly out of a “need to make the related clients entire,” in keeping with an affidavit learn in court docket on Wednesday and dated Dec 20.
Wearing a go well with, Bankman-Fried stepped as much as the witness field in court docket, the place he spoke clearly and steadily as he was sworn in.
“Sure, I do want to waive my proper to such formal extradition proceedings,” he advised Decide Shaka Serville.
Bankman-Fried’s protection lawyer stated his shopper had eaten, was in good well being and was “anxious to go away.”
The choose stated he was happy that each one authorized necessities for extradition had been met and that Bankman-Fried had not been “pressured, coerced or threatened” into making the choice.
[1/10] Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of crypto foreign money trade FTX, is escorted out of the Justice of the Peace Courtroom constructing in Nassau, Bahamas December 21, 2022. REUTERS/Marco Bello
“I subsequently formally commit you to custody whilst you await your extradition,” Serville stated.
The listening to was adjourned after the statements.
Throughout Wednesday’s listening to, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer requested that the “rule of speciality” be adopted. This rule, which is in The Bahamas’ extradition treaty with america, says an individual may be tried solely on the costs for which they’re extradited.
Bankman-Fried’s U.S.-based protection lawyer, Mark Cohen, didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Wednesday.
Bankman-Fried has acknowledged risk-management failures at FTX, however has stated he doesn’t consider he has felony legal responsibility.
Bankman-Fried rode a crypto increase to grow to be a billionaire a number of instances over and an influential U.S. political donor, earlier than FTX’s crash worn out his wealth and tarnished his popularity. The collapse was pushed by a wave of buyer withdrawals amid considerations over commingling of funds with Alameda.
The $32 billion trade declared chapter on Nov. 11, and Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO the identical day.
He has since been detained at The Bahamas Division of Corrections in Nassau, referred to as Fox Hill jail. The U.S. State Division in a 2021 report described situations on the facility as “harsh,” citing overcrowding, rodent infestation and prisoners counting on buckets as bathrooms.
Native authorities say situations have since improved.
Reporting by Jared Higgs, Jack Queen, Marco Bello and Maria Alejandra Cardona in Nassau, and by Jasper Ward in Washington
Further reporting and writing by Luc Cohen in New York;
Enhancing by Amy Stevens, Noeleen Walder, Megan Davies, Nick Zieminski, Anna Driver and Matthew Lewis
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