Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and former CEO of FTX, was denied bail on Tuesday after a Bahamian choose deemed him a flight threat, in line with Reuters. An extradition listening to is scheduled for February eighth.
Bankman-Fried, nicknamed “SBF,” was arrested within the Bahamas Monday night after US prosecutors knowledgeable the Bahamas of sweeping felony expenses anticipated to be filed in opposition to the disgraced crypto darling. In an unsealed indictment Tuesday, prosecutors on the Justice Division’s Southern District of New York charged Bankman-Fried with eight counts of fraud, together with mendacity to traders and violating US marketing campaign finance legislation.
The courtroom’s resolution to disclaim bail follows a marathon listening to within the Home Monetary Companies Committee the place lawmakers questioned present FTX CEO John J. Ray III over the trade’s collapse. Earlier than his arrest on Monday, SBF was slated to testify earlier than lawmakers as nicely. In remarks obtained by The Wall Road Journal, SBF was ready to apologize for the implosion, but in addition positioned partial blame onto Ray and rival cryptocurrency trade Binance.
“I wish to begin by formally stating, beneath oath: I fucked up,” the remarks stated.
All through Tuesday’s listening to, lawmakers broadly agreed FTX’s collapse warranted better regulation of the crypto regulation. However with little time left earlier than the top of the yr, McHenry stated the committee would choose up negotiations in January.
“The arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried is welcome information, however it nonetheless doesn’t resolve what occurred at FTX, and why it occurred, and who else could also be accountable,” incoming Monetary Companies Chair Patrick McHenry (R-TX) stated in his opening assertion.
