TIMES.KY

Cayman Islands, Caribbeanand International News
Tuesday, Dec 10, 2024

FTX’s Bankman-Fried appears at Bahamas court; expected to waive extradition

FTX’s Bankman-Fried appears at Bahamas court; expected to waive extradition

Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, appeared at court in the Bahamas on Monday although his lawyer said the reason for the hearing was unclear, after a source told Reuters the former billionaire was expected to agree to be extradited to the US.

Bankman-Fried initially had said he would fight extradition after his arrest a week ago in the Bahamas, where he lives and FTX is based. He was denied bail and remanded to the Caribbean nation’s Fox Hill prison.

Reuters reported first on Saturday that Bankman-Fried would return to court to reverse his decision, citing a source. Bankman-Fried exited a black van reading ‘Corrections’ outside the courthouse in Nassau on Monday, dressed in a dark blue suit carrying a manila folder containing papers.

Bankman-Fried’s defense lawyer however told Magistrate Shaka Serville that he does not know why Bankman-Fried was brought to court this morning. The court broke for recess so Bankman-Fried’s lawyers could confer with him.

The 30-year-old crypto mogul rode a boom in the value of Bitcoin and other digital assets to become a billionaire several times over and an influential political donor in the United States, until FTX collapsed in early November after a wave of withdrawals. The exchange declared bankruptcy on Nov. 11.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Bankman-Fried stole billions of dollars in FTX customer deposits to plug losses at his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research. They accuse Bankman-Fried of misleading lenders and investors, conspiring to launder money, and violating US campaign finance laws.

Bankman-Fried has acknowledged risk management failures at FTX but said he does not believe he has criminal liability.


Long road to eventual trial


Upon being extradited to the US, Bankman-Fried would be required to appear before a judge in Manhattan within two days, though the hearing would likely take place quickly. He would be asked to enter a plea, and the judge would make a determination on bail.

Prosecutors are expected to argue that Bankman-Fried is a flight risk and should remain in custody because of the large sums of money involved in the case and the unclear location of those funds.

Bankman-Fried would likely be held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, though due to overcrowding there some federal defendants are being held at jails just outside New York City, said Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma, a New York defense lawyer at ZMO Law PLLC who is not involved in the case.

It was not immediately clear what prompted Bankman-Fried to change his mind on extradition. In a 2021 report, the US State Department described “harsh” conditions at the Fox Hill correctional facility where Bankman-Fried was being held, with overcrowding, rodent infestation and prisoners using buckets as toilets. Bahamas authorities say conditions have since improved.

Bankman-Fried had been remanded to the prison on Tuesday after Chief Magistrate JoyAnn Ferguson-Pratt rejected his request to remain at home while awaiting a hearing on his extradition.

In the US it is highly unusual for judges to deny bail to defendants accused of non-violent financial crimes, though they typically demand steep dollar amounts and impose onerous monitoring conditions.

High-profile defendants including Ponzi schemer Bernard Madoff, Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, and Enron executives Jeffrey Skilling and Kenneth Lay were all granted bail before trial.

Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, last week described the collapse of FTX as one of the “biggest financial frauds in American history.” He has said the office’s investigation is ongoing, and called on people with knowledge of wrongdoing at FTX or Alameda to cooperate.

Any trial of Bankman-Fried is likely more than a year away, legal experts told Reuters.

Newsletter

Related Articles

TIMES.KY
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
BBC Personalities Rebuke Accusations Amidst Scandal Involving Teen Exploitation
A Swift Disappointment: Why Is Taylor Swift Bypassing Canada on Her Global Tour?
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
Unilever Plummets in a $2.5 Billion Free Fall, to begin with: A Reckoning for Misuse of Corporate Power Against National Interest
Beyond the Blame Game: The Need for Nuanced Perspectives on America's Complex Reality
Twitter Targets Meta: A Tangle of Trade Secrets and Copycat Culture
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
×