Bahamian judge denies Bankman-Fried bail; he’ll fight extradition

A court in the Bahamas has dismissed a bail plea from disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, citing his status as a “flight risk.” Bankman-Fried had told the Bahamian courts hours prior to the judgement that he would contest any extradition order to the U.S. On February 8th, an extradition hearing will take place.

Bankman-Fried A.K.A “SBF”, the disgraced crypto darling, was detained in the Bahamas on Monday night after US prosecutors alerted the Bahamas of the broad criminal accusations against the man. An unsealed indictment against Bankman-Fried was released by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday. The indictment accuses Bankman-Fried of eight counts of fraud, including making false statements to investors and breaking US campaign finance law. With the maximum sentence for each count being 20 years in federal prison. If found guilty on all charges, Bankman-Fried might be sentenced to a maximum of 115 years in prison, as stated by the prosecution.

Bankman-Fried and his co-conspirators made millions of dollars in political contributions funded by Alameda Research to federal political candidates and committees in advance of the 2022 election. To conceal the fact that those contributions were paid for using funds from a corporation and to evade contribution limits and reporting requirements, Bankman-Fried caused contributions to be reported in the names of co-conspirators rather than in the name of the true source of the funds.

Department of Justice spokesman said

Soon later, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued an official indictment alleging that Bankman-Fried had planned and executed a conspiracy to mislead equity investors in FTX. According to the agency, they are still looking into the allegations of wrongdoing.

Earlier on December 13, Bankman-Fried’s attorney asked for bail to be set at $250,000, citing the 30-year-old crypto executive’s “depression” and “insomnia,” as well as the facts that he has no prior criminal record and did not attempt to leave the Bahamas despite having “ample opportunity” to do so. Legal representation for SBF said, “Adderall” and “anti-depressants” weren’t being used by their client after his incarceration. The attorneys have also said that SBF has no issues with electronic monitoring or reporting to the local police station should bail be granted.

The court had previously said that the SBF was entitled to seek bail, but it ultimately dismissed the motion by Bankman-Fried’s attornye and ordered the crypto CEO to remain in the custody of the Bahamas Department of Corrections until February 8, 2023.

The arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried is welcome news, but it still does not get to the bottom of what happened at FTX, and why it happened, and who else may be responsible.

Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry said in his opening statement.

All during Tuesday’s session, legislators were in agreement that the FTX crash necessitated more crypto regulation. Due to the little amount of time remaining before the end of the year, Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry said that the committee will resume discussions in the new year. 

Since 1994, the United States and The Bahamas have had an extradition treaty in effect that permits either nation to extradite suspects for accusations that would be regarded crimes in both countries and that carry prison terms of one year or more. In most cases, the procedure is purely administrative, with no room for disputing responsibility.