FTX ex-CEO Bankman-Fried to fly to US on Wednesday, escorted by FBI agents

Washington – US federal authorities are set to whisk Sam Bankman-Fried to the United States on Wednesday to face a range of criminal charges related to the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange.

Bankman-Fried signed his surrender documents on Tuesday, according to Bahamas Acting Commissioner of Corrections Doan Cleare. He will sign a separate set of papers finalising his waiver of rights to fight extradition at the Magistrate’s Court in Nassau on Wednesday.

After that, the FTX founder and former chief executive will be accompanied by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents on a non-commercial aircraft back to the US, according to a person familiar with the matter. The plane will leave from a private airport in the island nation, said another source. 

Bankman-Fried’s legal team is discussing a deal with federal prosecutors that could allow him to be released on bail when he is extradited to the US, other sources said.

The terms of the deal remain fluid, the sources said, and any agreement would require approval from the federal judge overseeing the case. But under the terms that have been discussed, Bankman-Fried could be granted bail with highly restrictive conditions, including home detention, the sources said. Electronic monitoring was reportedly also under discussion.

Bankman-Fried’s flight to the US will cap a tumultuous week filled with speculation over when he might return to face charges including fraud. Since being denied bail at an initial court hearing last week, he has been held at a Bahamas Department of Correctional Services facility, commonly known as Fox Hill.

While the arrangements could still change, the plans call for Bankman-Fried to be escorted by Bahamian officers from the prison to the court on Wednesday morning. 

Although he had initially said he would fight extradition, Bankman-Fried more recently indicated in private conversations that he was preparing to return to the US as soon as Monday, Bloomberg News reported. The change in attitude was in part tied to the expectation that he would be able to get bail in the US.

It was not immediately clear which American airport Bankman-Fried would land at. The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York last week unsealed an eight-count indictment against him. 

The 30-year-old one-time digital currency billionaire was

arrested at his Nassau apartment on Dec 12

at the request of US prosecutors, who alleged that he cheated investors in FTX and misused funds that belonged to customers of FTX and its sister trading unit, Alameda Research. He was charged in New York with eight counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and election finance violations.

Separately, the US Securities and Exchange Commission accused him of violating securities laws.

During a court hearing on Monday at which Bankman-Fried appeared, his local defence lawyer, Mr Jerone Roberts said

he had not been informed of the purpose of the proceeding.

He later said that while his client had seen an affidavit laying out the charges against him, he wanted to access the complete indictment before agreeing to extradition.

Fall from grace

The arrest capped

a stunning fall from grace for Bankman-Fried,

who rode a boom in the values of Bitcoin and other digital assets to become a billionaire several times over. He has been under increasing scrutiny since early November, when customers raced to withdraw funds from FTX amid concerns over commingling of their assets with Alameda.

Mr Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in New York City, said last week that Bankman-Fried’s actions amounted to “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history”.

FTX, which once boasted a US$32 billion (S$43.3 billion) valuation, declared bankruptcy on Nov 11, and Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO the same day. BLOOMBERG, REUTERS