FTX Founder Bankman-Fried To Be Extradited To US On Wednesday Night - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd December, 2022) Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has given his consent to the extradition to the United States and will be flown to New York on Wednesday night, The New York Times reported.

Last week, the US Department of Justice announced charges against the 30-year-old Californian, who is being held at a prison in the Bahamas. He is accused of conspiring to defraud crypto investors of billions of Dollars in a scheme that allegedly led to FTX's downfall last month. Bankman-Fried's lawyer said during his first court appearance that his client would resist being sent to the United States, but Bloomberg news agency cited people familiar with the matter as saying on Sunday that he would no longer fight it and would make an announcement in court next week.

According to the report, Bankman-Fried told a judge in the Bahamas on Wednesday that he agreed to be extradited.

His lawyer, Jerone Roberts, said that Bankman-Fried is "anxious to leave (the Bahamas) and if it is done today it is fine," as quoted by the Nassau Guardian newspaper.

The newspaper posted a video on social media showing a convoy escorted by police arriving at Odyssey Aviation, a partnership of Fixed Base Operators and Ground Handling in the Bahamas and the US offering private aviation services, for Bankman-Fried's extradition.

The US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York's Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force is handling the case. The charges against Bankman-Fried could land him in prison for up to 115 years. He has denied any wrongdoing.