Sam Bankman-Fried Will Now Surrender Himself for Extradition Before Bahamian Court Monday: Source

Mario Duncanson Bankman-Fried was indicted in New York federal court on eight counts including securities fraud and money laundering. FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried will no longer contest extradition to the U.S., an about-face just days after he was remanded to Bahamian jail pending a hearing, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC. The former crypto billionaire will appear in Bahamian court this Monday to formally waive his extradition rights, paving the way for federal authorities to secure his return to the U.S. Extradition between the Bahamas and the U.S. In practice, the process takes months, if not years, to complete because the accused have numerous chances to appeal. Bankman-Fried's legal team had initially said that it planned to fight extradition. The 30-year-old MIT graduate was originally scheduled for his next hearing in February 2023. A representative for Bankman-Fried declined to comment. If sentenced, he could face the rest of his life in prison. The former FTX CEO also faces concurrent charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over similar allegations that he worked to defraud FTX customers of billions of dollars since 2019, the year the exchange was founded. FTX's collapse was precipitated when reporting by CoinDesk revealed a highly concentrated position in self-issued FTT coins, which Bankman-Fried's hedge fund Alameda Research used as collateral for billions in crypto loans. Binance, a rival exchange, announced it would sell its stake in FTT, spurring a massive withdrawal in funds. Charges from the SEC and CFTC indicated that FTX had commingled customer funds with Bankman-Fried's crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research, and that billions in customer deposits had been lost along the way.