FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has agreed to be extradited to the US

Nassau, Bahamas
CNN
—

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried agreed to extradite to the United States, where federal prosecutors Accused him Eight counts of fraud and conspiracy.

Attorney Jeroen Roberts, representing Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas, confirmed Monday afternoon that his client had “agreed to be voluntarily extradited to the United States.”

In an interview with a local journalist obtained by CNN, Roberts said Bankman-Fried’s next court appearance would complete the extradition process.

Bankman-Fried is expected to appear in court again Tuesday morning, a spokeswoman for Fox Hill Prison, where she is being held in the Bahamas, said.

Nassau Magistrate Court opens at 9:30 a.m. ET, with first hearings beginning at 10 a.m. ET. Bankman-Fried’s trial date is expected to be the same.

Bankman-Fried, a 30-year-old former crypto celebrity, was arrested a week ago at his luxury home in the Bahamas. Federal prosecutors in New York have accused him of defrauding customers and investors at FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange he founded in 2019.

In a series of media interviews and tweets since FTX filed for bankruptcy last month, Bankman-Fried has acknowledged management mistakes.

Roberts told reporters Monday afternoon that Bankman-Fried, known as SBF, is likely to be extradited the same day as his next court appearance.

Roberts wanted to emphasize that “Bankman-Fried wants to put clients right, and that’s what drove his decision to voluntarily extradite himself to the United States.”

Earlier on Monday, Transfer proceedings As her Bahamian lawyer and local lawyers argued vehemently in court, Bankman-Fried appeared stunned.

Prosecutors pointed out that Bankman-Fried had an agreement with U.S. prosecutors to allow him to be extradited to the United States to face federal charges. But Bankman-Fried’s Bahamian lawyer, Roberts, said he was not part of that deal.

Roberts said prosecutors won’t share the U.S. indictment with him and he won’t have to “fish around the Internet” for it. In response, attorney Franklin Williams dismissed Roberts’ accusations as “not credible.”

Bankman-Fried – who was wearing the same navy-blue suit she wore when she was arrested last week – was expected to drop her extradition fight, clearing a significant hurdle to extraditing her to US soil. fraud and conspiracy.

But Monday’s hearing left viewers in the dark.

The courtroom during the hearing was packed, mostly with US consular officials and members of the crypto community, who want to see Bankman-Fried continue to be held in the Bahamas for sentencing rather than being extradited to the US.

At the end of the hearing, the frustrated magistrate overseeing the case cleared the courtroom so that Bankman-Fried could call her American lawyers along with her Bahamian lawyer.

Bankman-Fried later returned to a Bahamian prison, where he has been held for the past week.

His US legal team did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Earlier in the day, a representative of his lawyers declined to provide details about the timeline, saying it was “difficult to provide specifics while relying on Bahamian courts.”

Bankman-Fried initially planned to fight efforts to extradite him to the United States. But after a week at NASA’s notorious Fox Hill prison, he had no interest in continuing what could have been a years-long battle to avoid deportation.

The US State Department said conditions at Fox Hill were critical. The report criticized the prison for overcrowding, poor nutrition and inadequate sanitation and medical care. The overcrowded cells often lacked mattresses and were “infested with rats, worms and vermin”. Report.

Bankman-Fried is expected to seek bail again while in US custody. If denied bail, he will be held at a federal detention center in Brooklyn, New York. Prisoners, lawyers and human rights advocates have complained about conditions inside the facility, including pre-trial defendants who are often presumed innocent. They are also inhumaneCiting overcrowding, frequent heat loss and poor sanitary conditions.

— CNN’s Jaide Timm-Garcia contributed to this report