Sam Bankman-Fried jailed following multibillion FTX collapse

SBF Goes To Jail?

Sam Bankman-Fried, the ex-CEO of bankrupt crypto trading firm FTX, has been arrested in the Bahamas. He is accused of lying to investors and violating the law starting from the founding of FTX in 2019.

Sasha Markevich

Dec 14, 2022 - 1 min read

SBF was arrested by Royal Bahamas police this Monday (12 Dec), just one day before he was supposed to testify in Congress about the FTX collapse (where he was going to blame everyone but himself according to his leaked testimony).

According to a statement from the Bahamas Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Ryan Pinder, the Bahamian government received formal notification from the United States government that it has filed criminal charges against him.

A criminal indictment against SBF was unsealed on Tuesday. It says that SBF and others - known and unknown - were lying to investors and violating the law starting from the founding of FTX in 2019. The eight charges listed are:

conspiracy to commit wire fraud on customers,
wire fraud on customers,
conspiracy to commit wire fraud on lenders,
wire fraud on lenders,
conspiracy to commit commodities fraud,
conspiracy to commit securities fraud,
conspiracy to commit money laundering,
conspiracy to defraud the United States and violate the campaign finance laws - this one even includes obstructing the Federal Election Commission’s functions.

SBF is now required to forfeit “any and all property, real and personal, that constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to the commission of said offenses.”

More accusations will follow. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged SBF with misleading big investors and customers. Commodity Futures Trading Commission also has filed a lawsuit against him, FTX and Alameda Research, claiming violations of the Commodity Exchange Act and demanding a jury trial. Other jurisdictions can hold him accountable as well.

This arrest is the first “real” action by regulators to call individuals to account for the multibillion-dollar collapse of FTX last month.

Now Sam Bankman-Fried is expected to be extradited to the United States. “At such time as a formal request for extradition is made, The Bahamas intends to process it promptly,” - said Bahamians authorities. We’ll observe and keep you informed on how it goes.