Crytocurrency

After hearing from a source, FTX’s Bankman-Fried has changed his mind and will agree to be sent to the U.S.

A person with knowledge of the situation said Monday that Sam Bankman-Fried has agreed to be sent to the U.S. to face fraud charges. This comes just hours after the FTX founder’s lawyer told a judge in the Bahamas that his client was not ready to agree.

The change of heart makes it possible for the 30-year-old cryptocurrency mogul to be charged in New York. He is accused of stealing billions from FTX customers to cover losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research, before the exchange suddenly shut down in November.

It wasn’t clear right away when Bankman-Fried would leave the Bahamas. He was arrested there on December 12 in response to a U.S. request to extradite him. At the end of Monday’s hearing, no other court date was set.

Related: Exclusive: Sam Bankman-Fried is going to change his mind about fighting extradition.

His defence lawyer in the U.S., Mark Cohen, did not respond right away when asked for a comment. Requests for comment sent to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan were not answered right away.

Bankman-sudden Fried’s decision came after he had a rough meeting with Magistrate Shaka Serville at a court in the capital, Nassau, on Monday morning. This was after Reuters and other news outlets reported over the weekend that he had changed his mind about fighting extradition.

At the hearing, his local criminal defence lawyer, Jerone Roberts, told Serville that he didn’t know why Bankman-Fried was brought to court on Monday morning.

After a break, the lawyer said that Bankman-Fried had seen an affidavit that explained the charges against him, but before agreeing to be extradited, he wanted to see the indictment that was filed against him last week in federal court in New York.

At the hearing, Serville said that he couldn’t do anything about Bankman’s extradition without the former billionaire’s permission.

“Only Mr. Bankman-Fried can move me, and he hasn’t,” Serville said.

Bankman-Fried was able to talk to his U.S. lawyer over the phone, and then he was sent back to Fox Hill prison in the Caribbean nation. A Reuters witness saw him leave the courthouse in a black van that said “Corrections” while carrying a manila folder full of papers.

Franklyn Williams, who is the Bahamas’ deputy director of legal affairs and is representing the US in its effort to extradite Bankman-Fried, called the day’s events “incredible” and seemed frustrated by the delay.

“Make it right for the customers.”

The 30-year-old crypto mogul rode a boom in the price of bitcoin and other digital assets to become a billionaire several times over and a powerful political donor in the U.S., until FTX collapsed in early November after a wave of withdrawals. On November 11, the exchange filed for bankruptcy.

Bankman-Fried has said that FTX had problems with risk management, but he does not think he is guilty of a crime.

Bankman-Fried wore a dark blue jacket and an untucked white shirt to the hearing on Monday. This was different from the casual clothes he wore when he was in the public eye in the U.S. and when he ran FTX from a fancy part of Nassau.

He only spoke to say hello to Serville and confirm that he would talk to his U.S. lawyer. At one point during the hearing, Bankman-Fried leaned back with his eyes closed. It looked like a court official shook him awake.

Bankman-Fried was taken to a prison in the Bahamas on December 13, a day after he was arrested. In a report on the facility from the U.S. State Department in 2021, it said that detainees had to deal with rodents and a lack of toilets. However, local authorities say that things have gotten better since then. At his hearing on December 13, he said that the night he was arrested was “busy.”

Related: Bankman-Fried fights being locked up in a hot courtroom in the Bahamas.

Roberts, his criminal defence attorney in the Bahamas, told the New York Times that Bankman-Fried had agreed to be extradited voluntarily and that he hoped Bankman-Fried would be back in court later this week. This was after the hearing on Monday.

The newspaper said that Roberts said, “As counsel, we will put together the papers needed to get the court involved.” ” Mr. Bankman-Fried made this choice because he wants to make things right with his customers.

Roberts could not be reached right away for a comment.

Krystal Rolle, a lawyer who has assisted Bankman-Fried with non-criminal matters in the Bahamas, confirmed what Roberts told a local news station earlier that Bankman-Fried would waive his right to an extradition hearing on his own.

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