In an about-turn from what his lawyers told a Bahamas court, Sam Bankman-Fried, the man behind the spectacular collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has now decided to agree to be extradited to the US to face fraud charges.
Bankman-Fried was arrested from Bahamas’ posh Albany community on December 12 after a request from the US authorities to face charges in New York over accusations he stole billions from FTX customers to plug losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research.
Jerone Roberts, Bankman-Fried’s local defence lawyer, said his client had agreed to extradition voluntarily, going against “the strongest possible legal advice”.
“We, as counsel, will prepare the necessary documents to trigger the court,” Roberts added. “Mr. Bankman-Fried wishes to put the customers right, and that is what has driven his decision.”
A Reuters report said Bankman-Fried’s abrupt decision came after an appearance on Monday morning before Magistrate Shaka Serville in Nassau, following reports that he had decided to reverse his decision to contest extradition.
The hearing on Monday had been scheduled specifically for Bankman-Fried to tell the authorities that he would not contest the extradition.
At the hearing, Roberts said Bankman-Fried had seen an affidavit laying out the charges against him, but wanted to see the indictment filed against him last week in federal court in New York before consenting to extradition.
Serville said at the hearing that he could not take any action on Bankman-Fried’s extradition without his own consent. “I can only be moved by Mr Bankman-Fried, and he has not moved me,” he said.
Bankman-Fried was then given the chance to speak to his US counsel over the phone and then remanded back to prison.
“I certainly feel it is a wasted day,” Serville was quoted by The New York Times.
Not long after the hearing ended, Roberts announced that Bankman-Fried was agreeing to the extradition after all.
No date has still been set for the extradition.
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