FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in Bahamas

The Bahamas police have arrested Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, the country’s attorney general has said.

The Bahamas said it received formal notification from the US of criminal charges against Mr Bankman-Fried.

Last month FTX filed for bankruptcy in the US, 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.

“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,” the US Attorney’s office in Manhattan said in a tweet.

In a series of interviews and public appearances in recent weeks, Mr Bankman-Fried has acknowledged that mistakes were made at the firm but sought to distance himself from accusations of illegal activity.

“I didn’t ever try to commit fraud,” he said at the New York Times’ Dealbook Summit at the end of last month.

FTX filed for bankruptcy protection on 11 November in one of the most high profile collapses of cryptocurrency exchange after users pulled $6bn (£4.9bn) from the platform in three days and rival exchange Binance abandoned a rescue deal.

At the same time, Mr Bankman-Fried resigned as FTX’s chief executive.

According to a court filing last month, FTX owed its 50 largest creditors almost $3.1bn.

The collapse of FTX came during a tumultuous year for the cryptocurrency industry.

This year Bitcoin has lost more than 60% of its value, while other cryptocurrencies have also slumped.

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.

He had become well known in Washington DC as a political donor, supposedly supporting pandemic prevention and improved crypto regulation.