Sam Bankman-Fried, the infamous former CEO of crypto exchange FTX, has been detained in the Bahamas, according to the Bahamas Attorney General's Office on Monday night.

The arrest was undertaken at the request of the US government, based on a secret indictment filed by the Southern District of New York, according to US Attorney Damian Williams, who also tweeted on Monday night. 


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Williams anticipates that the indictment will be unsealed on Tuesday morning and that he "will have more to say at the time."

Meanwhile, the Securities and Exchange Commission's head of enforcement, Gurbir Grewal, said in an email that the SEC will file its own charges in the Southern District of New York "related to Mr. Bankman Fried's violations of our securities laws."

According to the Bahamas' attorney general, police arrested Bankman-Fried after receiving "formal information from the United States that it... has brought criminal charges against" him, and they learnt that the US is "expected to request his extradition."

When an extradition request is made, the office "intends to process" it "promptly."

The Bahamas' prime minister stated in a statement that the country is collaborating with US law enforcement and regulators, but that its own "regulatory and criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX continue."

Just one month ago, FTX, a $32 billion virtual currency juggernaut, declared bankruptcy after accusations that it was insolvent and unlawfully shifting money.

Bankman-Fried quit hours before the bankruptcy filing and has spent the last month on a charm offensive, portraying himself in a variety of media appearances and even on Twitter Spaces as a guy who let things slip and didn't willfully commit fraud.

On Tuesday, he was scheduled to testify before a congressional committee virtually from The Bahamas.

5 big revelations on the demise of crypto powerhouse FTX

As of late Monday night, the committee's notice of the hearing still named Bankman-Fried as a witness and contained written testimony from the session's other witness, FTX CEO John Ray.


Bankman-Fried has denied that he has avoided visiting the United States in the last month because he is afraid of being jailed.