Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and CEO of the defunct FTX cryptocurrency exchange, has consented to extradition to the US to face fraud charges.
The 30-year-old American who resides in the Bahamas is alleged to have committed “one of the biggest financial frauds in US history,” according to the BBC.
A close friend of Bankman-Fried who has denied the accusations claimed that Bankman-Fried had consented to extradition.
WITHIN NIGERIA had earlier reported that FTX filed for bankruptcy, leaving many people unable to withdraw funds. According to a court filing, FTX owed nearly $3.1 billion (£2.5 billion) to its 50 largest creditors.
After being detained on December 12, it was unclear when Bankman-Fried would be extradited to the US at the time this report was filed.
Among the most serious allegations against him is that he used billions of dollars of customer funds to prop up his investment trading company Alameda.
Last week, Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said Bankman-Fried was accused of one of the largest frauds in US history.
The FTX founder was also accused of using “tens of millions” in ill-gotten gains for illegal campaign contributions to Democrats and Republicans alike, Williams said.
The Securities and Exchange Commission said the man who was formerly nicknamed the “King Of Crypto” had built a “house of cards on a foundation of deception.”
