Sam Bankman-Fried won’t fight US extradition: Reuters

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX, is expected to tell a court in the Bahamas on Monday he will no longer contest extradition to the United States, where he is facing criminal fraud charges, Reuters reports citing an unnamed source.

Earlier this week, Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas and slapped with fraud charges.

A U.S. grand jury charged him with committing or conspiring to commit fraud on FTX’s customers and lenders plus counts of money laundering. The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging the disgraced crypto entrepreneur with defrauding investors. The SEC also alleges Bankman-Fried used customer funds for political donations and to fund an extravagant lifestyle.

Bankman-Fried resides in the Bahamas, where FTX is also based. He is currently behind bars at Fox Hill prison after a judge denied a request to stay at home while awaiting a hearing on his extradition, according to Reuters.

If convicted of all the criminal charges Bankman-Fried could face up to 115 years in prison.

Disclaimer: Beginning in 2021, Michael McCaffrey, the former CEO and majority owner of The Block, took a series of loans from founder and former FTX and Alameda CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. McCaffrey resigned from the company in December 2022 after failing to disclose those transactions.