{"id":15716,"date":"2022-12-13T01:12:28","date_gmt":"2022-12-13T01:12:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nftandcrypto-news.com\/nft\/breaking-sam-bankman-fried-was-just-arrested-over-ftx-collapse\/"},"modified":"2022-12-13T01:12:38","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T01:12:38","slug":"breaking-sam-bankman-fried-was-just-arrested-over-ftx-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nftandcrypto-news.com\/nft\/breaking-sam-bankman-fried-was-just-arrested-over-ftx-collapse\/","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Sam Bankman-Fried Was Just Arrested Over FTX Collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Moments ago, authorities in the Bahamas announced that Sam Bankman-Fried<\/a> (SBF) was arrested. If you haven\u2019t been following the FTX saga, SBF is the Founder and Former CEO of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange that recently collapsed and lost billions of dollars. Most of the money belonged to customers. <\/p>\n

According to a press release issued by the Office of the Attorney General, SBF was brought into custody by The Royal Bahamas Police Force after the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York shared a sealed indictment with the Bahamian government. The press release also noted that the government will extradite SBF as soon as U.S. officials request it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result of the notification received and the material provided therewith, it was deemed appropriate for the Attorney General to seek SBF\u2019s arrest and hold him in custody pursuant to our nation\u2019s Extradition Act,\u201d a statement attributed to Bahamian Attorney General Ryan Pinder read. \u201cAt such time as a formal request for extradition is made, The Bahamas intends to process it promptly, pursuant to Bahamian law and its treaty obligations with the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

A tweet posted by official governing offices in New York reinforced these statements, adding that the federal government would move to unseal the indictment tomorrow morning. The charges included wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering, said a person with knowledge of the matter told the Ne<\/em>w York Times<\/em>. <\/p>\n

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USA Damian Williams: Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the U.S. Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY. We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.<\/p>\n

\u2014 US Attorney SDNY (@SDNYnews) December 12, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Notably, the U.S. isn\u2019t the only nation pursuing action against SBF. <\/p>\n

In a statement, Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis said that his government was taking similar steps. \u201cThe Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law. While the United States is pursuing criminal charges against SBF individually, The Bahamas will continue its own regulatory and criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX, with the continued cooperation of its law enforcement and regulatory partners in the United States and elsewhere,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, FTX\u2019s collapse came about as a result of\u00a0reporting from CoinDesk<\/em>, which\u00a0revealed a highly concentrated position in self-issued FTT coins, which Alameda Research \u2014 SBF\u2019s hedge fund \u2014 was using as collateral for billions in crypto loans. Shortly after the CoinDesk report, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said his exchange would sell its stake in FTT, citing \u201crecent revelations.\u201d At the time, Zhao said the move was risk management, stemming from lessons he learned from Luna, a cryptocurrency that collapsed in value earlier in 2022.<\/p>\n

Zhao\u2019s announcement led to a massive withdrawal of funds from FTX, which sent prices plummeting. FTX froze assets and declared bankruptcy just days later. <\/p>\n

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As part of Binance\u2019s exit from FTX equity last year, Binance received roughly $2.1 billion USD equivalent in cash (BUSD and FTT). Due to recent revelations that have came to light, we have decided to liquidate any remaining FTT on our books. 1\/4<\/p>\n

\u2014 CZ \ud83d\udd36 Binance (@cz_binance) November 6, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Subsequent reports alleged that FTX mixed its customer funds with assets from Alameda Research and that Alameda ultimately used client funds to do margin trading. This exposed the funds to massive losses. FTX\u2019s newly appointed CEO, John J. Ray III, confirmed earlier today that billions in customer deposits were lost along the way. In remarks prepared for the House Financial Services Committee, Ray said FTX went on a \u201cspending binge\u201d from 2021 to 2022 when approximately \u201c$5 billion was spent buying a myriad of businesses and investments, many of which may be worth only a fraction of what was paid for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was a breaking story and was updated. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n