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Samuel Bankman-Fried, the former head of cryptocurrency business FTX, agreed Wednesday to be extradited from the Bahamas to New York to face fraud charges, local and U.S. media reported.
Bankman-Freed appeared in a magistrates court nine days after he was arrested at his Nassau home, where he submitted his consent not to challenge the U.S. Department of Justice’s extradition request, local media said.
That opened the way for him to fly to the United States as early as Wednesday afternoon.
The 30-year-old digital currency billionaire was arrested at his Nassau apartment on Dec. 12 at the request of U.S. federal prosecutors who accused him of defrauding FTX investors and abusing funds belonging to FTX and its sister companies. Funds of clients of Alameda Research, the trading arm.
Founded in 2019, FTX Group has become one of the darlings of the digital currency industry.
Attracting generous investments from sophisticated investment funds and venture capitalists, it was worth about $32 billion before its November collapse.
He was charged in New York with eight counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and election finance violations.
Separately, the SEC accused him of violating securities laws.
U.S. prosecutors said Bankman-Fried “was orchestrating a massive, years-long fraud to divert billions of dollars of trading platform client funds for personal gain and to help grow his cryptocurrency empire.”
He appeared in court Monday after spending a week at Nassau’s Fox Hill prison, amid speculation he will exercise his right to oppose extradition.
But the court session was cut short and he was sent back to prison after consulting with local and US lawyers.
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