Sam Bankman-first Fried’s public appearance following the collapse of his crypto company occurred in a hot courtroom and was repeatedly delayed.
During the six-hour court hearing in the Bahamas, Bankman-Fried, who was wearing a suit instead of his usual T-shirt, asked for bail to fight against being sent to the U.S. He was turned down in the end, and he may be sent to the United States.
Forbes once said that the crypto boss was worth as much as $26.5 billion, so his fall from grace was a shock.
Related:Â Bankman-Fried was taken into custody in the Bahamas after the U.S. filed charges against him.
When asked if he would give up his right to an extradition hearing, Bankman-Fried said, “I’m not waiving.”
It was a rare comment at a hearing where lawyers mostly talked about the process. Bankman-Fried said in another comment that the night he was arrested was “busy.”
There was a lot of excitement about Bankman’s appearance. Fried’s Since his company went bankrupt, he has done a lot of interviews with the media but hasn’t been seen much in public.
At the beginning of the day, Bankman-Fried was led into court away from the main entrance. Photographers and reporters crowded around to get a good shot.
Bahamas Chief Magistrate JoyAnn Ferguson-Pratt said funny things that made the courtroom laugh. For example, when the defence attorney explained the law, she once said, “I wasn’t born yesterday.”
Ferguson-Pratt kept forgetting the last name of the defendant, which made people laugh.
She started to say “Samuel,” but then stopped. The once-billionaire crypto magnate reminded her of his name: “Bankman-Fried.”
As the sun shone through the windows, people in the courtroom used fans to keep cool in the tropical heat.
The hearing was put off twice: once to talk about whether the court had the power to grant bail, and then again in the afternoon.
It also talked at length about the medicines Bankman-Fried took, which his lawyer said were for things like depression, insomnia, and attention deficit disorder.
At the beginning of the trial, Bankman-Fried was asked to change an Emsam patch, which is a medical strip that is stuck to the skin and used to treat depression in adults. He asked to leave the courtroom for a short time to take his medicine.
Bankman-Fried admitted that he hadn’t brought his medications with him when he was arrested. He said that was because he’d had a “busy night.”
His parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, sometimes seemed upset by the prosecution’s arguments, which said that he was likely to run away.
Related: What happens if Sam Bankman-Fried misses the deadline to answer the request for testimony?
Bankman-lawyer Fried’s stated that after his business failed, he remained in The Bahamas for several weeks without attempting to leave the country.
At the end of the hearing, he hugged his parents with his head down. Outside the courthouse, a van was waiting to take him away.
