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Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, Clears the Way for Extradition

According to a Bahamas official, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has signed court documents clearing the road for his extradition from the Bahamas to the U. S., where he faces fraud charges related to the cryptocurrency exchange’s demise.

The paperwork was signed at noon on Tuesday, according to Doan Cleare, the Bahamas’ interim commissioner of Corrections. According to a court official, a hearing in Bankman-case Fried’s will be held on Wednesday at 11 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (16:00 GMT).

Following many days of uncertainty regarding the status of Bankman-extradition, Fried’s Wednesday procedure might pave the way for the 30-year-old crypto magnate to leave the Caribbean island.

A lawyer representing Bankman-Fried in the United States did not reply to calls for comment. According to a source acquainted with the situation, Bankman-Fried wants to agree to extradition. Bankman-Fried admitted risk-management mistakes at FTX but maintains he is not criminally liable.

Bankman-Fried was detained on December 13 in the Bahamas, where he resides and where FTX was located, after a grand jury in a Manhattan federal court charged him for allegedly stealing client cash to cover losses at his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research.

He originally informed a Bahamian judge that he would fight extradition, but Reuters and other news sources reported that he had changed his mind over the weekend. Jerone Roberts, Bankman-local Fried’s defence counsel, refused to comment as he left the Magistrate Court in Nassau earlier on Tuesday. A Reuters witness stated that US embassy personnel had previously visited the courts, but Bankman-Fried was not seen there on Tuesday.

The Fall from Grace

The arrest marked a remarkable fall from grace for Bankman-Fried, who became a multi-billionaire because of a surge in the value of bitcoin and other digital assets. Since early November, when consumers rushed to remove cash from FTX due to worries over the commingling of their assets with Alameda, he has been under growing scrutiny.