Sam Bankman-Fried advised a courtroom within the Bahamas he’ll consent to extradition to the US, a transfer that would outcome within the founding father of FTX arriving in New York as quickly as Wednesday to face expenses over the collapsed cryptocurrency trade.
Bankman-Fried arrived at a Nassau courthouse round 11am native time on Wednesday underneath heavy police guard. He signed preliminary documents to clear the best way for his return to his house nation on Tuesday evening, in accordance with an individual conversant in the matter.
The listening to concluded about 40 minutes after Bankman-Fried’s defence lawyer advised the courtroom he’s “anxious to depart” the Caribbean nation, Reuters reported.
The US Division of Justice final week filed charges in opposition to Bankman-Fried and accused him of orchestrating “one of many biggest financial frauds in American historical past” by misappropriating buyer property from FTX to his non-public buying and selling agency Alameda Analysis. He was arrested final week within the Bahamas, the place he lives.
Bahamas Justice of the Peace Shaka Serville will contact the nation’s minister of overseas affairs to log out the extradition, native TV reported Wednesday.
US embassy officers entered the courthouse in Nassau shortly earlier than Bankman-Fried, in accordance with Reuters. Personnel from the FBI and US Marshals Service had additionally arrived on the island, the information company reported.
Beneath US legislation, Bankman-Fried should be introduced earlier than a Justice of the Peace in Manhattan inside two days of touchdown in New York, for an preliminary listening to by which the costs in opposition to him will likely be learn out.
A choice will even be made on whether or not to grant the FTX founder bail till a trial begins and, in that case, on what situations. The previous billionaire’s request final week to be launched on bail within the Bahamas had been denied by a neighborhood choose.
Ought to he arrive in New York after courtroom hours, Bankman-Fried would in all probability be held in custody in a single day inside the courtroom advanced. Had been he to be denied bail, Bankman-Fried would then be transferred to a pre-trial facility, such because the infamous Metropolitan Detention Middle in Brooklyn, the place Jeffrey Epstein’s confederate Ghislaine Maxwell was held whereas on trial.
Since his arrest within the Bahamas final week, Bankman-Fried had been held at a Nassau jail identified for its harsh situations.
