Reuters reports that on Tuesday, a Bahamian judge denied bail to Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX, on the grounds that he posed a flight risk. The court date for the extradition is set for February 8th.
The disgraced crypto industry idol, Bankman-Fried, aka “SBF,” was detained in the Bahamas on Monday night after US prosecutors informed local authorities of the extensive criminal accusations against him. New York’s Southern District of the Department of Justice announced an indictment against Bankman-Fried on eight counts of fraud on Tuesday, including deceiving investors and breaking US campaign finance law.
Bankman-Fried made his first public appearance since the fall of FTX in November at a court in the Bahamas on Tuesday morning. The bail amount requested by SBF’s attorneys was $250,000.
SBF was scheduled to appear before MPs on Monday before he was arrested. After a protracted hearing in the House Financial Services Committee, during which members questioned current FTX CEO John J. Ray III about the collapse of the exchange, the court decided to refuse bail. The Wall Street Journal reported that SBF was ready to apologise for the collapse but blamed Ray and Binance, another cryptocurrency exchange.
“I would like to start by formally stating, under oath: I fucked up,” the statement said.
At Tuesday’s hearing, legislators were unanimous that the FTX collapse necessitated stricter crypto regulation. McHenry stated that the committee would resume negotiations in January because of the short time remaining before the end of the year.
For incoming Financial Services Chair Patrick McHenry (R-TX), while the arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried is “welcome news,” it still doesn’t get to the bottom of what happened at FTX, why it happened, or who else may be responsible.