It looks like the struggling FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried will not testify (almost) before Congress. Bahamas Attorney General’s Office second announcement that Bankman-Fried was arrested there and likely to be briefly extradited to the United States to stand trial. The AG’s office noted that his arrest came after “receiving official notice from the United States that they have filed criminal charges against the SBF and are likely to request his extradition.”
News of SBF’s arrest will come as a bit of a surprise because Last Friday, the Justice Department came out and said it was examining “closely” his role in the rapid and recent demise of the multi-billion dollar cryptocurrency exchange. Justice Department officials made those statements during a meeting with the crypto exchange’s bankruptcy team to discuss whether FTX illegally transferred hundreds of millions of dollars just before declared bankruptcy last November or not.
US Damian Williams: Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the US Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by SDNY. We are expected to proceed with the unsealing of the indictment in the morning and will have much to say by that time.
– US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) December 12, 2022
Bankman-Fried was scheduled to testify before Congress at the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday. However, as U.S. Attorney Damian Williams explained in a Tweet Monday, Bankman-Fried has been taken into custody “based on a sealed indictment,” which will be revealed in the morning.
Developing…
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