Cryptocurrency Billionaire Sam Bankman Fried Faces Charges in New York After Arrest in Bahamas: Fraud, Scam and Money Laundering
Sam Bankman Fried, young billionaire founder of the FTX cryptocurrency platform and the Alameda investment firm, was indicted yesterday for fraud in New York, a day after being arrested in the Bahamaswhere he still awaits a possible extradition to the US.
According to the New York prosecutor’s office, in total the young businessman faces eight charges, including wire fraud and money laundering. Y Wall Street regulators also accused him of defrauding investors.
Prosecutors say the former crypto chief committed “one of the largest financial frauds in the history of the United States”.
The Wall Street regulator – Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – accused him of orchestrating a system that aimed to defraud investors. “We affirm that Sam Bankman Fried built a house of cards founded on deception, signaling to investors that it was one of the safest cryptocurrency systems,” SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said in a statement.
The US agency that oversees derivative financial products (CFTC) also filed a lawsuit accusing the businessman of fraud and false statements. Bankman Fried made several appearances in the media in the last month, despite the risk of being prosecuted for fraud after the fall of the firm that at the beginning of the year was valued at $32 billion dollarsremembered German wave.
The fiscal general de Bahamas, Ryan Pinder, reported in a statement via Twitter that the United States “filed a complaint” against the 30-year-old man and “will likely request his extradition.” For now he was detained on the Caribbean island.
Bahamas Chief Magistrate JoyAnn Ferguson-Pratt sent Bankman Fried to the Bahamas State Department of Corrections until the February 8, 2023, reported Reuters.
