A Bahamian court on Tuesday denied FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried bail after US prosecutors charged the disgraced crypto entrepreneur with "one of the biggest financial frauds in US history."
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According to Reuters, an attorney for Bankman-Fried proposed that his client pay $250,000 in cash, but the judge declined that option, saying that Bankman-Fried's risk of flight was too "great." FTX's former boss was sent to a Bahamas correctional facility until Feb. 8.
Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas as US prosecutors filed criminal charges. The government of the Bahamas said in a statement that the US is "likely to request his extradition," without elaborating on the timeframe.
Separately, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged the disgraced crypto billionaire with defrauding investors. The watchdog believes that at least since May 2019, FTX raised more than $1.8 billion from equity investors, without telling them that FTX was sending customers' funds to Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried's privately-held crypto hedge fund.
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