Sam Bankman-Fried Denied Bail In Bahamas As Prosecutors Label Him A ‘Flight Risk’
By Benzinga
Sam Bankman-Fried has reportedly been remanded to the Department of Corrections after a magistrate judge in the Bahamas denied his bail application.
What Happened: The disgraced former CEO of FTX (CRYPTO: FTT)has been deemed “a flight risk” and will be detained until at least Feb. 8 when the case resumes, Reuters reported.
U.S. prosecutors revealed on Tuesday that SBF had allegedly committed fraud against FTX's customers by unlawfully taking their deposits to cover costs and debts, as well as to invest in his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research LLC.
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Bankman-Fried has been hit with a host of severe criminal allegations from the US Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission.
Prosecutors claimed that Bankman-Fried falsely represented the status of his Alameda hedge fund to deceive lenders, in addition to masking the incomes obtained from wire fraud. It is further alleged that the stolen funds were utilized to make "tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions."
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in New York said the investigation was "ongoing" and "moving quickly."
FTX's bankruptcy on Nov. 11 sent shockwaves across the crypto world, leaving an estimated 1 million customers and other investors facing losses in the billions of dollars. Adding to the turmoil, it was revealed that Bankman-Fried had secretly utilized $10 billion of customer funds to fund his private trading firm Alameda, resulting in the disappearance of at least $1 billion. This directly led to FTX's liquidity crisis which culminated in the filing for bankruptcy.
