Crypto CEO who lost $25 billion in a day is arrested during ‘holiday’ in the Bahamas
Published on Dec 13, 2022 at 11:17 AM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Dec 13, 2022 at 11:17 AM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
Sam Bankman-Fried’s ‘holiday’ in the Bahamas was cut short after being arrested in the capital Nassau.
The founder and former CEO of FTX will now be extradited to the United States to face fraud charges.
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The disgraced ex-billionaire has been living in a $40 million penthouse in the Bahamas since he started the FTX crypto exchange in 2019.
FTX collapsed about a month ago, going from a $25 billion evaluation to zero overnight.
Since then, investors have been asking the same question over and over again:
“Why isn’t Bankman-Fried in jail yet?”
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Now that Sam Bankman-Fried is finally under arrest, the other question everyone is asking is “where is the money?”
SBF – as most people call him – appeared to have siphoned billions out of the platform to use as his personal piggy bank.
According to Bahamian authorities, he spent at least $256 million on Bahamas real estate.
And now the country wants it back.
Retrieving the funds will be long and difficult process.
The lawyer that’s overseeing the bankruptcy proceeding said he’d never seen such a “complete failure of corporate controls”.
Ironically, SBF is the son of two compliance lawyers.
The bad news is investors will receive cents on the dollar, and that’s in the best-case scenario.
In addition to that, large creditors will get priority over ‘the little guy’.
The fall of FTX was also a disaster for politicians.
Several US politicians on both sides of the spectrum received large donations, which they may have to return.
Celebrities are under pressure, too.
Steph Curry and Tom Brady are facing Texas investigation (and lawsuits) for promoting the exchange.
Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary has appeared on numerous news programs addressing his involvement with FTX.
O’Leary said he lost $15 million in FTX and yet, in a recent podcast interview he said he would still invest in another project involving Bankman-Fried.
Speaking of which, Sam Bankman-Fried will have to stay away from the spotlight after being placed under arrest.
He spent the last few weeks giving frequent interviews, trying to make himself look like an ameteur who made mistakes, rather than a fraudster.
It’ll be up to prosecutors to decide whether that’s going to fly or not.
Sadly, the average Joe and Jane who invested in the FTX will be at the bottom of the pecking order when it comes to getting any of their money back.
Unfortunately, in such cases, only two things are sure.
One, customers will receive cents on the dollar if they’re lucky.
And two, it will take years.
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