Disgraced former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried agreed to be extradited from the Bahamas to the U.S. to face charges of fraud and conspiracy, his lawyer reportedly said.
His local defense attorney Jerome Roberts was surprised to see him in court and was not informed of Bankman-Fried’s decision to be extradited due to a confusion with his U.S. legal team, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported. It was reported over the weekend that Bankman-Fried changed his mind about contesting extradition.
Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces fraud charges related to the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, agreed to be extradited to the U.S., one of his lawyers said, following a chaotic day in court in the Bahamas. https://t.co/qnz5JK8Qro pic.twitter.com/hQG7Pwemag
— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 19, 2022
Roberts said he needed documents to review with Bankman-Fried before deciding to waive his objection to being extradited to the United States. A Bahamian judge granted Bankman-Fried and Roberts a request to converse with U.S. lawyers, who had contacted Bahamian prosecutors over the weekend about Bankman-Fried’s decision to be extradited.
Roberts later told reporters Bankman-Fried agreed to be extradited voluntarily, according to The New York Times. Roberts agreed to draft the necessary documents for extradition after the conversation with Bankman-Fried and his U.S. legal team, WSJ reported.
Bankman-Fried was sent back to Fox Hill Prison after the court proceedings, a facility known for being “harsh due to overcrowding, poor nutrition, inadequate sanitation, poor ventilation, and inadequate medical care,” according to a 2020 State Department report. (RELATED: Fox Business Contributor Claims Liz Warren’s Crypto Bill Is A ‘Bullet To Financial Privacy’)
He was indicted by Dec 13. by federal prosecutors from the U.S. Southern District of New York on eight counts of fraud and conspiracy. Charges include wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering and campaign finance violations, according to the indictment.
Bankman-Fried “agreed with others to defraud customers of FTX.com by misappropriating those customers’ deposits and using those deposits to pay expenses and debts of Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s proprietary crypto hedge fund, and to make investments,” the indictment says.
Bankman-Fried’s net worth peaked at an estimated $26.5 billion and was estimated at $17.2 billion in September 2022, Forbes Magazine measured. He had $100,000 left in his bank account the last time he checked.
FTX and its U.S. operations were valued at $40 billion after a January 2022 fundraising round. The crypto exchange filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Nov. 11 in the wake of reports about misusing customer funds.