Dhe founder of the insolvent crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been arrested after the spectacular collapse of his corporate empire in the Bahamas. “Tonight, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the U.S. government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said late monday evening with “We expect to request the unsealing of the indictment tomorrow morning and will have more to say about that at that time.”
FTX – one of the largest trading platforms for cryptocurrencies – collapsed about three weeks ago after enormous outflows of funds within a few days. Billions in customer funds could not be paid out. Bankman-Fried, who is often just called SBF in the crypto industry, announced his resignation on November 11 and filed for bankruptcy for the group in the US state of Delaware. Investigations and class action lawsuits against Bankman-Fried are ongoing in the United States. He asserts that FTX has enough money to pay out customers there.
Among other things, the investigation is intended to clarify whether customer funds were lent to the trading company Alameda Research, which was also founded by Bankman-Fried. In media interviews following FTX’s collapse, Bankman-Fried acknowledged serious management errors. But he also claimed he never attempted to commit fraud or break the law.
In his remarks, which he was preparing for a hearing in the US House of Representatives that Bankman-Fried was due to appear on Tuesday, he gave a blunt assessment of his situation: “I want to start by formally stating under oath: I screwed up .”
