FTX: Bahamian authorities arrest Sam Bankman-Fried on criminal charges before a hearing in the United States

A day before FTX founder’s appearance before the U.S. Congress, Bahamian authorities arrested Sam Bankman-Fried as the U.S. government filed a request to charge him.

In a statement on Monday, Dec. 12, Ryan Pinder, the Bahamas attorney general, said they have taken SBF into custody pending extradition proceedings. Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, added that federal prosecutors in Manhattan would unveil the case against SBF on Tuesday and provide more details.

According to the New York Times report, U.S. authorities have charged SBF with wire fraud. In addition, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also authorized civil lawsuits related to securities law violations and money laundering by Sam Bankman-Fried.

Commenting on this development, Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis said that the two countries have “a common interest in holding accountable any individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law“.

Sam Bankman-Fried hearing to continue as scheduled

Amid all these developments, House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters said the committee is still prepared to hold its hearings on the FTX collapse. “It is important that the American public understand FTX and what was going ont,” she said.

The FTX founder tried to dodge or delay the hearing by saying that he does not yet have all the details of the events that led to the collapse of FTX. However, Maxine Waters threatened him with a subpoena that would force him to appear at the hearing.

One of the main allegations against SBF and FTX is that they misused client funds by lending them to Alameda Research. In addition, SBF also admitted to several management errors at the company. However, he claims that he never tried to commit fraud or break the law.

Last week, FBI, prosecutors, Justice Department officials and FTX’s new CEO and restructuring expert John Jay Ray III met at SDNY headquarters in midtown Manhattan. All of these people discussed the potential charges at the meeting.