SBF to return to U.S. immediately in hopes of securing bail
A decision was made for Bankman-Fried to return to the U.S. after he agreed to be extradited.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried should be handed over to US authorities today, Dec. 21, as reports surfaced that he has agreed to the extradition. According to an affidavit, the former CEO of FTX consented to be extradited partly in the interest of making his customers whole.
Jerone Roberts, SBF’s attorney, requested immediate extradition which has been granted according to Bloomberg. He will return to the U.S. “accompanied by FBI agents on a non-commercial aircraft.” A video of SBF arriving at the courthouse in the Bahamas accompanied by FBI officials was also released by Bloomberg.
A person familiar with the matter told Reuters that FBI and US Marshals Service officials arrived in Nassau this morning. SBF waived his right to “formal extradition” proceedings according to CNN while also stating that he is unclear as to his official address at this time. SBF reportedly has hopes that he may be granted bail once back on U.S. soil
In a recent video from CoinBureau, it was estimated that SBF could be looking at over 100 years in prison if convicted on all eight charges filed by the Southern District of New York.
The Bahamas authorities arrested Bankman Fried on Dec. 12 on eight charges, including wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, and securities fraud conspiracy. The FTX founder also faces charges from the United States Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).