According to the BBC, Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has consented to be extradited to the US to face charges.

According to US authorities, the 30-year-old, who resides in the Bahamas, is accused of committing “one of the biggest financial frauds in US history.”

The BBC was informed by a source close to Mr. Bankman-Fried, who denies the accusations, that he had consented to be extradited.

Due to FTX’s bankruptcy filing, many people are unable to withdraw money.

A court document stated that FTX owed its 50 biggest creditors almost $3.1 billion.

Following his arrest on December 12, it is unclear when Bankman-Fried will be extradited to the US.

One of the most serious accusations against him is that he propped up his investment trading firm Alameda with billions of dollars in customer money.

The Southern District of New York’s US Attorney, Damian Williams, claimed last week that Bankman-Fried was charged with perpetrating one of the biggest frauds in US history.

According to Williams, the FTX founder was also accused of using “tens of millions” in illegally obtained money to make contributions to both Democratic and Republican candidates.

The former “King Of Crypto,” according to the Securities and Exchange Commission, had constructed a “house of cards on a foundation of deception.”

Bankman-Fried, who has attempted to distance himself from claims of illegal activity, stated the following in an interview with BBC News just prior to his arrest: “I didn’t purposefully engage in fraud. I don’t believe I defrauded anyone. All of this was something I wanted to avoid. Definitely not as competent as I had thought I was.”

Additionally, Bankman-Fried has refuted claims that he must have known Alameda Research was using money from FTX customers.

Customers could exchange their regular currency for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin on the FTX exchange.

Cryptocurrencies are not conventional money; instead, they are digital assets that function more like securities or investment vehicles, frequently with high levels of volatility.

There were an estimated 1.2 million registered users of FTX who were actively using the exchange, but many are now left to wonder whether they will ever be able to retrieve the money they had stored in FTX’s virtual wallets.

In the past, Bankman-Fried has been compared to a younger version of the famous US investor Warren Buffett. As of late October, his net worth was estimated to be more than $15 billion.

(Adapted from BBC.com)

Categories: Entrepreneurship, Geopolitics, Regulations & Legal, Strategy, Uncategorized