FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested by Bahamian authorities on Monday after the U.S. filed unspecified criminal charges against the former cryptocurrency billionaire.
Bankman-Fried was arrested by request of the U.S. government based on a sealed indictment filed by the Southern District of New York, said Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for that district."[We] will have more to say at that time," he said. In a statement, Attorney General of the Bahamas Ryan Pinder said the U.S. is likely to request Bankman-Fried's extradition. The crypto exchange was headquartered in the Bahamas until November, when the company went bankrupt after sustaining billions of dollars in losses.
Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis said the country will continue its own regulatory and criminal investigation into FTX, once the world's third-largest crypto exchange. “The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law," Davis said in a statement.to move its headquarters to MiamiFTX also held the naming rights to the Miami Heat arena in downtown Miami after signing on to a 19-year, $135 million sponsorship agreement in 2021.