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SBF has signed extradition papers, set to return to face charges in the US

Sam Bankman-Fried, the imprisoned founder of the insolvent cryptocurrency exchange FTX, allegedly signed documents on December 20 that would soon see him turned over to FBI agents and transported to the US to face charges.

Photo by Lukas Souza / Unsplash

The creator of FTX is nowy one step closer to returning to US territory after apparently signing on the dotted lines.

The latest update

Sam Bankman-Fried, the imprisoned founder of the insolvent cryptocurrency exchange FTX, allegedly signed documents on December 20 that would soon see him turned over to FBI agents and transported to the US to face charges. The action was anticipated since Bankman-Fried was said to have consented in principle to being extradited to the United States on December 19, despite prior reports indicating that he wanted to review the charges against him first.

Citing the Bahamas' acting attorney general, ABC News claimed that Bankman-Fried signed extradition documents on December 20. Doan Cleare is the commissioner of prisons. According to Cleare, the exchange founder signed surrender documents on December 20 and was scheduled to sign another set of documents on December 21, waiving his right to object to extradition, which could result in him being put on a flight to the United States that same day, according to a report from Bloomberg on December 20.

The next step

After the last document is signed, Bankman-Fried is anticipated to be taken away by FBI agents to a private airport before being transported to the U.S. on a private airplane, where he will be charged with eight charges under an indictment by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.  According to a source (1) from December 20, Bankman-legal Fried's team is now in talks with federal prosecutors to secure his release on bail following extradition to the US. According to those who know the situation, the arrangement may have "very stringent terms," including house confinement and electronic monitoring. It would need the federal court supervising SBF's case to approve it.

SBF's charges

The Department of Justice has accused him of campaign finance violations, commodities and securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to engage in money laundering, and wire fraud. The maximum punishment for the charges is 115 years in jail if found guilty of all counts. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission have filed new allegations against the FTX founder.

According to the Exchange Commission, for allegedly breaking commodity rules and deceiving investors. While this was going on, a Dec. 20 Instagram post (2) from the local news source Bahamas Press that claimed Bankman-Fried was being "rushed" to the hospital from prison had gone viral on social media and had been quickly disproved. Financial writer for the New York Times, Rob Copeland, tweeted that the exchange founder was eating lunch in the medical bay and that the allegation was untrue after speaking with the prison's administrator. After then, Bahamas Press published an update stating that its sources have since reported that the assertion was false.

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