FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in Bahamas

Picture Courtesy: BBC

The founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested in Bahamas, he country's attorney general has said. The Bahamas said it received formal notification from the US of criminal charges against Mr Bankman-Fried.

FTX filed for bankruptcy last month leaving many users unable to withdraw their funds. It was the second largest crypto exchange in the world, trading about $10bn of crypto coins every day. The US Attorney's office in Manhattan said in a tweet, “Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the US Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY [Southern District of New York]. We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time,”

According to a court filing last month, FTX owed its 50 largest creditors almost $3.1bn. FTX filed for bankruptcy protection on November 11th in one of the most high profile collapses of cryptocurrency exchange after users pulled $6bn from the platform in three days and rival exchange Binance abandoned a rescue deal.

Mr Bankman-Fried was once viewed as a young version of legendary US investor Warren Buffett, and as recently as late October had a net worth estimated at more than $15bn. This year Bitcoin has lost more than 60% of its value, while other cryptocurrencies have also slumped.