The Bahamas’ prime minister, Philip Davis, once cited FTX’s debut as proof of the expertise of Bahamian securities regulators in ensuring “good actors, as opposed to bad actors, enter into this area.”
Less than nine months after Davis praised FTX founder Sam Bankman-relocation Fried’s to the island nation, Bahamian financial crimes agents dragged the former millionaire from his multimillion-dollar penthouse condominium and placed him in government custody, pending extradition.
Bankman-Fried had changed from his distinctive FTX T-shirt and shorts to a blue jacket and a white button-down in court on Tuesday, as lawyers appealed for a judge to release him on $250,000 bail with an ankle monitor.
Bankman-parents Fried’s stood by as a Bahamian magistrate judge ruled that he would not be allowed to return to his home. The Bahamian justice remanded Bankman-Fried to jail until his next scheduled hearing on Feb. 8, 2023, citing a “great” danger of escape.
His parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried gave him a parting hug before Bahamian law enforcement moved Bankman-Fried out of the courtroom and away to the notorious HMP Fox Hill prison where, according to Reuters, he’s housed in the medical unit.
Bankman-Fried is facing criminal charges in the United States for securities fraud, campaign finance violations, and money laundering in connection with the collapse of his FTX crypto exchange.
When CoinDesk uncovered a highly concentrated holding in self-issued FTT coins, which Bankman-crypto Fried’s hedge fund Alameda Research utilized as collateral for billions in crypto loans, FTX’s collapse was hastened. Binance, a competitor exchange, declared it will sell its investment in FTT, causing a large outflow of capital. After freezing assets, FTX declared bankruptcy a few days later. According to charges filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, FTX commingled customer funds with Alameda Research, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars in customer deposits.