FTX founder Samuel Bankman-Fried arrested in the Bahamas

Samuel Bankman-Fried, the former head of the fallen crypto exchange FTX, has been arrested by Bahamian authorities at the request of the U.S. government, according to U.S. officials. 

The Southern District of New York, which is investigating FTX’s dramatic collapse and Bankman-Fried, confirmed his arrest on Twitter. 

“Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the U.S. government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY,” US attorney Damian Williams wrote in a December 12 tweet.

“We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.”

Officials in the Bahamas said Bankman-Fried was arrested at his apartment in the capital Nassau. He was to be held in custody pending a court appearance on December 13, where a request for his extradition to the U.S. is expected. 

FTX went into a liquidity crisis and eventually filed for bankruptcy protection in the U.S. on November 11. Media reports earlier alleged that Bankman-Fried had used a “backdoor” to transfer US$10 billion in FTX customer funds to Alameda, a hedge fund that he also operated, to cover its investment losses.

During interviews following the FTX collapse, Bankman-Fried admitted to mistakes but denied intent to fraud his customers. He also said he didn’t “knowingly commingle funds” and he was not running Alameda.