Sam Bankman-Fried to fly to the US
Katanga Johnson and Ava Benny-Morrison - Federal authorities were set to whisk Sam Bankman-Fried to the US yesterday to face a range of criminal charges related to the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange.Bankman-Fried signed his surrender documents on Tuesday, according to Bahamas Acting Commissioner of Corrections Doan Cleare. He had to sign a separate set of papers finalising his waiver of rights to fight extradition at the Magistrate’s Court in Nassau yesterday.
After that the FTX co-founder were accompanied by FBI agents on a non-commercial aircraft back to the US, according to a person familiar with the matter. The plane left from a private airport in the island nation, said another person, who also asked not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the plans.
TUMULTUOUS WEEK
His return to the US will cap a tumultuous week filled with speculation around when Bankman-Fried might return to face charges including fraud. Since being denied bail at an initial court hearing last week, Bankman-Fried has been held in a notorious correctional facility on the outskirts of Nassau known as Fox Hill.
Although he initially said that he would fight extradition, Bankman-Fried has more recently indicated in private conversations that he was preparing to return to the US as soon as Monday, Bloomberg News has reported. The change in attitude was in part tied to the expectation that he’ll be able to get bail in the US.
The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York last week unsealed an eight-count indictment against him. – Fin24/Bloomberg