Bankman-Fried to be indicted by feds on fraud charges

Alleged crypto Ponzi schemer Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested by authorities in the Bahamas Monday night after criminal charges were filed by US federal prosecutors on Monday.

Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), confirmed Bankman-Fried’s arrest and said the indictment would be unsealed Tuesday.

“Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the U.S. Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY,” Williams tweeted. “We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.”

Among the charges being alleged include wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and money laundering, according to people in the know.

Bankman-Fried, a former billionaire, is alleged to be the kingpin behind FTX — which had been among the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges and imploded and filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 11.

Federal prosecutors have been trying to probe how FTX handled customer funds and the alleged transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars from the US to the Bahamas around the time of the bankruptcy filing.

It will probably take forensic accountants years to figure out the trail of fund transfers since FTX had scores of subsidiaries all commingling accounts and funds.

The federal charges are to be unsealed on Tuesday.