Topline
Sam Bankman-Fried, the former billionaire crypto wunderkind now jailed in the Bahamas and facing a litany of criminal charges for alleged fraud, did not agree to extradition back to the U.S. as expected in a Monday court hearing, yet another dramatic turn in one of the highest-profile white-collar criminal sagas in American history.
Sam Bankman-Fried in Nassau on Monday.
Key Facts
Several outlets reported over the weekend that Bankman-Fried would drop his opposition to the handover to American authorities during a Monday court appearance in the Bahamian capital of Nassau, with Bloomberg reporting he expected to be extradited as soon as Monday.
But confused reigned at the hearing which ultimately ended with a local judge ordering back to Bahamian jail: Bankman-Fried said before the court he was ready for extradition, which his lawyer Jerone Roberts said came as a complete surprise, according to CNBC, the New York Times and Bloomberg.
Bankman-Fried later flip-flopped and requested to see a copy of his U.S. indictment before agreeing to extradition, according to the outlets.
The 30-year-old Californian’s net worth swelled to as much as $26.5 billion as his Bahamas-based crypto exchange FTX and crypto-focused trading firm Alameda Research dominated the burgeoning industry, before his empire went up in flames last month following revelations about unsound and potentially illegal activity at the two firms.
