Disgraced crypto ‘crook’ Sam Bankman-Fried arrived in the United States from the Bahamas in FBI custody on Wednesday, where he faced criminal fraud charges after the spectacular collapse of the FTX crypto exchange.
FTX and its sister trading house Alameda Research went bankrupt last month, dissolving a virtual trading business that was valued by the market at $32 billion.
Prosecutors allege Bankman-Fried, 30, cheated investors and misused funds that belonged to FTX, which he founded, and Alameda Research customers.
Fried was extradited to the US when he appeared in a Bahamas court on Wednesday – which came as co-founder Gary Wang and Fried’s ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison both pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges as part of deal for leniency.
Disgraced crypto ‘crook’ Sam Bankman-Fried arrived in the United States from the Bahamas in FBI custody on Wednesday. Pictured: Fried is seen Wednesday night in handcuffs in the Bahamas being escorted to a plane set to return him to the United States to face charges
Pictured: New York’s Westchester airport is seen overnight, with armed security officers gathered outside preparing for the arrival of Bankman-Fried in the US
US Attorney Damian Williams announced Wednesday Fried would be ‘transported directly to the Southern District of New York’ on arrival in the United States.
The plane carrying him arrived on Wednesday night, with Williams saying he would appear in front of a federal judge ‘as soon as possible’ in a statement.
Williams also gave a stern warning to all crypto crooks to come forward while plea deals are still on the table.
Officials with the FBI and the United States Marshals Service – which handles transportation of individuals in US custody – arrived in the island’s capital, before he was transported off the island overnight.
A plane taxis toward the runway at Odyssey Aviation with FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried on board as he is extradited to the United States on December 21, 2022 in Nassau, Bahamas
US Attorney Damian Williams (pictured) announced Wednesday Fried would be ‘transported directly to the Southern District of New York’ on arrival in the United States
He arrived at Odyssey executive jet facility next to Lynden Pindling International Airport for his flight to the US in darkness at 6.25pm – in a nine-vehicle convoy with SWAT team SUVs, their sirens and lights blazing.
Earlier in the Bahamas – where FTX is headquartered – he had waived his right to challenge the US extradition request, the island nation’s attorney general said.
Officially described as a ‘fugitive’ at the hearing in Nassau’s magistrates court, he was on Wednesday finally given clearance to leave the island chain.
He had left the courthouse more than four hours after the hearing. The disgraced financier was whisked first to jail because Fox Hill had to release him formally before he could leave the Bahamas, according to official sources.
Magistrate Shaka Serville agreed to the move after the man accused of defrauding investors out of $1.8billion in the catastrophic FTX collapse formally told him he wanted a route to the States.
Pictured: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is escorted from a Corrections Department van as he arrives at the Magistrates Court building for a hearing, in Nassau, Bahamas, Wednesday
The 30-year-old consented to extradition to the United States and was flown to New York overnight on Wednesday. Pictured: Fried is seen leaving court on Wednesday morning
US prosecutors last week charged Bankman-Fried with conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and election finance violations.
He ‘was orchestrating a massive, years-long fraud, diverting billions of dollars of the trading platform’s customer funds for his own personal benefit and to help grow his crypto empire,’ they said.
Five of the eight counts against Bankman-Fried carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison each.
The SEC separately accused him of violating securities laws.
US Attorney Williams said two key figures in the case – Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang – had pleaded guilty to charges related to the FTX collapse and that they were cooperating with authorities.
Their charges were “in connection with their roles in the frauds that contributed to FTX’s collapse,” he said, but did not provide further details.
Williams’s office did not respond to an AFP request for comment on the charges.
Separately, the SEC and the Commodity Future Trading Commission (CFTC) announced Wednesday they had filed civil suits against Ellison and Wang and that the two were cooperating, which should lead to a more lenient judgment.
The CFTC estimates that $8 billion in funds were misappropriated from FTX customer accounts.
After its founding in 2019, FTX rose spectacularly to become a leading player in the crypto world.
Bankman-Fried appeared on the covers of finance and tech magazines, and drew in huge investments from prominent fund managers and venture capitalists.
He was also lionized in the halls of politics, becoming a spokesman for the industry on regulatory issues in Washington, and contributing tens of millions of dollars to the Republicans and the Democrats.
But it all imploded dramatically in November when a media report said Alameda’s balance sheet was heavily built on a token created by FTX with no independent value – and exposed Bankman-Fried’s companies as being dangerously interlinked.
Bankman-Fried was arrested at his Nassau apartment on December 12 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York.
A Bahamas permanent resident, he spent the past nine days in prison, weighing his choices before telling the Nassau magistrate court Wednesday that he would not fight extradition.
