Sam Bankman-Fried, Founder of FTX, Arrested in the Bahamas

Bahamian police have arrested FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, the country’s attorney general said on Monday. The arrest was made after formal notification from the United States of criminal charges against the businessman.

A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan confirmed Bankman-Fried’s arrest but declined to comment on the charges.

“As a result of the notice received and the material provided, it was deemed appropriate for the Attorney General to request the arrest of SBF [Sam Bankman-Fried] and keep him in custody in accordance with our country’s Extradition Act,” said the office of Bahamian Attorney General Ryan Pinder.

A lawyer for Bankman-Fried could not immediately be reached for comment.

In a series of interviews and public appearances in recent days, Bankman-Fried has acknowledged risk management flaws but has sought to distance himself from fraud allegations, saying he never knowingly mixed client funds at FTX with funds at his trading firm, Alameda Research. 🇧🇷

“I’ve never tried to commit fraud,” Bankman-Fried said in a Nov. 30 interview at the New York Times Dealbook Summit, adding that he personally doesn’t feel he bears any criminal responsibility.

FTX, once among the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. its rival Binance backtracked on a rescue deal.

The liquidity crunch came after Bankman-Fried secretly transferred $10 billion in FTX client funds to Alameda, Reuters reported, citing two people familiar with the matter. At least $1 billion in client funds disappeared, the sources said.

Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO of FTX on the same day as filing for bankruptcy.