No Bail for Bankman-Fried, Leaves Bahamas Court in Handcuffs

Bahamian chief magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt said Bankman-Fried poses a great flight risk if he were to be released on bail

article-image

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried | Blockworks exclusive art by Axel Rangel

share

Sam Bankman-Fried has not been granted bail by a Bahamas court, with the disgraced crypto entrepreneur pictured leaving in handcuffs.

Bankman-Fried, who founded the now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday at the direction of the US and is now held in custody in accordance with an extradition act.

His attorney had proposed bail be set at $250,000 in cash and floated an ankle bracelet, so that Bankman-Fried could leave his cell.

But Bahamian chief magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt denied the petition, stating Bankman-Fried posed a flight risk if he were to be released.

“Risk of flight is so great that [Bankman-Fried] ought to be remanded in custody,” Ferguson-Pratt said. “I am not satisfied that there is any condition that I could place in [Bankman-Fried] to sufficiently satisfy, because of his access to substantial finances, that he would not and could not abscond.”

Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire crumpled last month under increased scrutiny of both FTX and sister trading unit Alameda Research, which had been once pitched as completely separate firms. 

Among mountains of alleged corporate malfeasance are claims that the former crypto billionaire siphoned user funds from FTX to make market bets via Alameda. 

This led to a crippling solvency crisis once customers rushed for the exit, ending in FTX’s bankruptcy and Bankman-Fried’s arrest. FTX was valued as much as $32 billion at the start of the year.

FTX’s flagship exchange was in the top four platforms by trade volume before its demise, processing about $2.4 billion in daily trades, while its US-centric venue handled around $400 million.

Federal prosecutors in the US Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York have now charged Bankman-Fried with an eight-count indictment:

  • two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud,
  • two counts of wire fraud,
  • conspiracy to commit securities fraud
  • conspiracy to commit commodities fraud
  • conspiracy to commit money laundering
  • conspiracy to defraud the United States and commit campaign finance violations.

US Attorney Damian Williams claimed Bankman-Fried’s crimes represent “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history.”

Loading Tweet..
 Images quickly surfaced showing Bankman-Fried leaving the court in cuffs.

“All of this dirty money was used in service of Bankman-Fried’s desire to buy bipartisan influence and impact the direction of public policy in Washington,” Williams said. “I can only say this clearly, we are not done.”

The SEC filed separate charges on Tuesday, alleging Bankman-Fried defrauded FTX’s US-based equity investors who had contributed more than $1.1 billion in funding.

Bankman-Fried had told the court he would not be waiving his right to fight US extradition. The extradition hearing for the alleged FTX fraudster is set for Feb.

David Canellis contributed reporting.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Unlocked by Template (7).png

Research

Union’s improvements upon Tendermint consensus through CometBLS, coupled with ZK proving through Galois, allow for a broadly scalable, cost efficient, and low latency IBC implementation that is feasibly scalable across every existing blockchain, virtual machine and runtime. The implementation offers modular crosschain interoperability without the need for trusted intermediaries.  

article-image

Hal Finney joined the Bitcoin network in its first seven days

article-image

Bill Gates expects that within a decade, humans will no longer be needed “for most things”

article-image

A newly submitted SEC pilot proposal aims to tokenize US equities

article-image

As Schwab plots crypto trading upon “more clarity in the regulatory environment,” Morgan Stanley is reportedly interested too

article-image

Over 50 countries, including 8 of the 10 largest gaming markets, aren’t allowed to access the upcoming crypto game