FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested in the Bahamas at the behest of the US on Tuesday morning, the day before he was due to testify before Congress about the abrupt failure of his cryptocurrency exchange – one of the world’s largest – last month.
Bankman-Fried was arrested at his apartment complex and will appear in a magistrate court on Tuesday, Bahamian police said.
The Bahamas attorney general’s office said it expects he will be extradited to the United States.
The arrest came as Bankman-Fried prepared to lash out at his former lawyers at Sullivan and Cromwell, new FTX CEO John Ray, and rival crypto exchange Binance at a Congressional hearing.
In the testimony, a draft copy of which was seen by Reuters, he planned to say he was pressured by Sullivan and Cromwell lawyers to nominate Ray as CEO following the sudden exodus of customer funds. And when he changed his mind minutes later, following an offer of billions of dollars of fresh funding, he was told it was too late.
Bankman-Fried will now be unable to testify, according to Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who said in a statement she was surprised to hear of his arrest.
More trouble might be on the horizon for the crypto industry. Reuters reported that some US Justice Department prosecutors believe they have enough evidence in their investigation of Binance to charge the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and some top executives.
Comments are closed.