FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried agreed to be extradited to the United States, where federal prosecutors have indicted him on eight counts of fraud and conspiracy.
Jerone Roberts, the attorney representing Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas, confirmed Monday afternoon that his client “has agreed to be voluntarily extradited to the United States of America.”
In an interview with a local journalist obtained by CNN, Roberts said Bankman-Fried’s next court appearance will be to complete the extradition process.
Bankman-Fried is expected to appear back in court Tuesday morning, according to a spokesperson at the Fox Hill prison where he is being held in the Bahamas.
The Nassau Magistrate Court opens at 9:30 a.m. ET, with the first hearings beginning at 10 a.m. ET. Bankman-Fred’s hearing is expected to be among the first of the day.
Bankman-Fried, the 30-year-old former crypto celebrity, was arrested a week ago at his luxury residence in the Bahamas. Federal prosecutors in New York charged with defrauding customers and investors in FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange he founded in 2019.
In a series of media interviews and tweets since FTX filed for bankruptcy last month, Bankman-Fried has admitted to managerial mistakes while denying that he knowingly defrauded customers or investors.
Roberts told the journalist on Monday afternoon that there’s a possibility Bankman-Fried, known as SBF, could be extradited the very same day as his next court appearance.
the US State Department reported that conditions at Fox Hill are harsh. The report criticized the prison for its overcrowding, poor nutrition and inadequate sanitation and medical care. Crowded cells often lack mattresses and were “infested with rats, maggots, and insects,” according to the report.
Bankman-Fried is expected to again request bail once he is in US custody. If denied bail, he would be held at a federal detention centre in Brooklyn, New York. Inmates, lawyers and human rights advocates say the conditions inside that facility, which mostly houses pre-trial defendants who are presumed innocent, are also inhumane, citing overcrowding, frequent loss of heating and poor sanitary conditions overall.
