By
Tolu Ajiboye
April 24th, 2024
Sam Bankman-Fried has been facing eight different charges and his punishment could total up to 115 years in prison.
On Monday evening, December 12, the Bahamian authorities arrested FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried as the US government filed for criminal indictment. A US grand jury has charged SBF with conspiring and committing wire fraud.
The disgraced FTX founder has been facing eight separate charges from different US regulators. The eight-count indictment from the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York includes charges of money laundering and misusing customers’ funds. Additionally, SBF is also facing civil charges from the US SEC as well as the US CFTC. The indictment document notes:
The former FTX CEO “agreed with others to defraud customers of FTX.com by misappropriating those customers’ deposits and using those deposits to pay expenses and debts of Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s proprietary crypto hedge fund.”
In a press conference on Tuesday, Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York added: “One month ago, FTX, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, collapsed, destroying billions of dollars in customer value overnight. And for every day of the past month, the dedicated prosecutors of this office and our partners at the FBI, SEC and CFTC, have been working around the clock to figure out what happened and to begin the process of seeking justice.”
FTX Founder Bankman-Fried Denied Bail
During the first courtroom hearing on Tuesday, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was denied bail by Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt. The judge added that there’s too big of a “flight risk” currently to release SBF.
SBF’s lawyers had asked for a release from jail with his client paying $250,000 cash and would wear an ankle bracelet. But Magistrate Pratt denied the request adding:
“Risk of flight is so great that Samuel Bankman-Fried ought to be remanded in custody. I am not satisfied that there is any condition that I could place in Samuel Bankman-Fried to sufficiently satisfy, because of his access to substantial finances, that he would not and could not abscond.”
An extradition hearing to move SBF to the U.S. has been set on February 8. However, his lawyers said that they would fight back against the decision. During Tuesday’s hearing, SBF’s lawyers also requested bail on the grounds that SBF needs to take medication for ADHD and allergies frequently.
The proceedings were halted in the middle since SBF had missed his doses after his arrest the night before. The disgraced FTX founder was also given 15 minutes to talk to his parents before being taken away by the authorities. Also, the judge said that Bankman-Fried would be taken to the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services facility, commonly known as Fox Hill.