The twitchy interviews filled with stammering and stuttering and nary a single clear answer are going to be put on hold for a while, as disgraced FTX founder and former CEO San Bankman-Fried was arrested Monday in the Bahamas.
It was a move that felt imminent, and the feds moved in after he was officially charged.
The next step is getting him to the United States. He was scheduled to testify before a congressional committee Tuesday, where he would be under oath and forced to answer lawmakers’ questions about the bankruptcy and what led to it.
The house of cards SBF constructed came crashing down in thunderous fashion on November 11 when the company ran out of money. It was a crypto version of an old-fashioned bank run, and it pulled back the curtain on a business that appeared to be run with smoke and mirrors.
Look for the justice department to try to extradite Bankman-Fried to the United States.
Here’s a quote in a statement from the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs in the Bahamas.
“At such time as a formal request for extradition is made, The Bahamas intends to process it promptly, pursuant to Bahamian law and its treaty obligations with the United States.”
Here’s a portion of a statement from Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis.
“The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law. While the United States is pursuing criminal charges against SBF individually, The Bahamas will continue its own regulatory and criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX, with the continued cooperation of its law enforcement and regulatory partners in the United States and elsewhere.”
CNBC spoke with legal experts who said that if the U.S. government pursues wire or bank fraud charges, SBF could face life in prison with no possibility of release.
Bernie Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison for his Ponzi scheme.
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