Sam Bankman-Fried appeared in magistrates court in the Bahamas on Monday amid expectations the former billionaire would end his opposition to being extradited to the US to face fraud charges related to the collapse dump of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
The FTX the founder was arrested in Nassau last week and has resisted extradition to New York after he indictment in Manhattan on US federal fraud and money laundering allegations. Ahead of the proceedings, a person familiar with the matter said they expected him to give up his fight.
However, a formal move to waive the extradition hearing was delayed on Monday, after his local attorney, Jerone Roberts, told the court he was unaware of the decision. . Judge Shaka Serville twice adjourned the proceedings to allow Bankman-Fried to speak with his attorneys and call his American lawyers, local news reports.
Bankman-Fried left court at around 1 p.m. local time without consent to be sent to the US, Reuters reported. Local media later reported that Roberts would submit papers agreeing to voluntary extradition, although Bankman-Fried’s legal team advised against it.
Roberts told local media that he hopes Bankman-Fried can return to court this weekend to formalize the decision to end the extradition battle.
Bankman-Fried arrived at Nassau court just after 10 a.m. local time on Monday, boarding a black police van under heavy guard from the prison where he was being held. Charges against him last week in the Southern District of New York allege he orchestrated “one of the biggest financial fraud in American history”.
He has denied wrongdoing.
A court in the Bahamas last week denied Bankman-Fried bail, saying there was a risk he would try to flee. The 30-year-old has since been held at Fox Hill Jail in Nassau. The facility has been criticized in international reports for overcrowding and lack of hygiene.
Bankman-Fried also faces civil charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, alleging that he misled investors and transferred client funds. entrusted the exchange FTX to his private trading company Alameda Research.
If convicted, Bankman-Fried could face a maximum sentence of more than 100 years in prison, according to legal experts.
FTX, once valued at $32 billion by blue-chip investors including Sequoia Capital and BlackRock, entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware in November after it failed to meet a wave of claims. customer withdrawal request. The company may have more than 1 million creditors, according to bankruptcy filings.
Bankman-Fried has lived in Nassau, in a $30 million penthouse at the luxury Albany complex, since FTX moved to the Bahamas from Hong Kong late last year after the Caribbean nation set out a separate management mode for digital assets.
