Former FTX CEO Bankman-Fried arrested in Bahamas, US to unveil charges
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Reuters December 12, 2022 | 05:28 pm PT
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried poses for a picture, in an unspecified location, in this undated handout picture, obtained by Reuters on July 5, 2022. FTX/Handout via Reuters
Sam Bankman-Fried, who founded and led FTX until a liquidity crunch forced the cryptocurrency exchange to declare bankruptcy last month, was arrested on Monday in The Bahamas after being criminally charged by U.S. prosecutors.
It marks a stunning fall from grace for the 30-year-old entrepreneur who rode a cryptocurrency boom to create one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges and a net worth that Forbes pegged a year ago at $26.5 billion.
The exchange, launched in 2019 and based in The Bahamas, filed for bankruptcy Nov. 11 after it struggled to raise money to stave off collapse as traders rushed to withdraw $6 billion from the platform in just 72 hours.
The attorney general's office for The Bahamas said it proceeded with the arrest after receiving formal confirmation of charges against Bankman-Fried, adding it expects he will be extradited to the United States.
