Judge Greenlights FTX Founder’s Extradition to US

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the crypto exchange FTX, will now be heading to the United States to face criminal charges related to the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange, the Wall Street Journal reports. 

During court proceedings that took place on Wednesday, the 30-year-old’s legal representative read out an affidavit in which it was noted that Bankman-Fried wished to make customers whole.

Bankman-Fried has maintained his innocence after stating he had no idea what had happened behind the scenes at Alameda Research, his crypto hedge fund linked to the missing customer funds. 

There was some confusion regarding plans for extradition when a clash between Bankman-Fried’s local and US legal teams occurred over the weekend. Before ultimately consenting Monday after a conference call with both parties involved, his Bahamas lawyer refused to answer any questions.

Bankman-Fried has been slapped with a litany of charges, which include fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering offenses. Bankman-Fried may face life in jail if found guilty of all charges. 

According to CNN, Sam Bankman-Fried’s attorneys and federal prosecutors have taken action to reach an arrangement concerning the crypto mogul’s bail. This will likely help him prevent state detention. 

While being at the helm of FTX, Bankman-Fried leveraged customer deposits to bail out the sister trading firm. John Ray III, the current CEO of FTX and Alameda, claimed that FTX was an “old-fashioned” embezzlement scheme.