Sam Bankman-Fried Arrested in The Bahamas

US Attorney for the Southern District of New York confirms a sealed indictment against the former FTX CEO

article-image

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

share

Bahamian authorities have arrested disgraced former crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried at the request of the US government, according to the Prime Minister’s Director of Communications, Latrae Rahming.

Bankman-Fried will be held in custody in accordance with the Bahamas Extradition Act, according to a document from the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs.

Loading Tweet..

Rahming’s office could not be reached by phone, and did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Royal Bahamas Police Force officers arrested Bankman-Fried shortly after 6:00 p.m. ET at his apartment complex, Nassau Police Headquarters said in a statement shared with Blockworks. He is expected to appear in court on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Philip Davis said in a statement, “The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law.”

Members of the public whose assets are now part of bankruptcy proceedings in multiple jurisdictions may welcome accountability, but they are no closer to seeing the return of funds lost on the exchange.

“The resolution of this matter will be an important step in the maturation of the digital asset industry and will hopefully serve as a catalyst for congress to develop laws to effectively regulate the industry,” Jeffrey Blockinger, General Counsel at Quadrata, a blockchain identity platform, told Blockworks.

The arrest comes as a result of a sealed indictment filed by the Southern District of New York (SDNY), according to a tweet citing a statement by US Attorney Damian Williams.

Loading Tweet..

Followers of the FTX saga were eager to hear from the former CEO, who was expected to testify remotely in a Congressional hearing scheduled for Tuesday. Bankman-Fried revealed he was still in the Bahamas, while answering questions on a Twitter space, Monday. It’s not yet known whether he will be called to testify after his arrest.

Bankman-Fried had been asked by the Senate Banking Committee to testify at a Wednesday hearing about his collapsed company, but refused to do so, according to the committee.  Pat Toomey and Sen. Sherrod Brown threatened to Subpoena Bankman-Fried if he opted not to appear.

Bankman-Fried will be represented in court by former assistant US attorney for the Eastern District of New York Mark S. Cohen.

This story was last updated on Dec. 12, 2022, at 9:40 p.m. ET.

Ornella Hernandez contributed reporting.


Get the news in your inbox. Explore Blockworks newsletters:

Tags

Decoding crypto and the markets. Daily, with Byron Gilliam.

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.

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) represent low-hanging fruit in a massive market ripe for Web3-driven disruption. The global CDN market was valued at ~$28B in 2024, and is projected to surpass $140B by 2034, (18.75% CAGR) underscoring the immense demand for efficient content delivery.

article-image

Immigration changes are papering over a fragile labor market

article-image

BlueYard’s head of crypto research developed FreePay to make fee-free, tap-to-pay crypto payments a reality

article-image

Buzzwords include: succinct universal proofs, zkVM, incrementally verifiable computation, distributed supercomputer and agentic AI

article-image

US dollars might technically be worth less, but it’s still good news

article-image

Apps are doing well, as is casino gaming, says Tom Schmidt of Dragonfly

article-image

Sponsored

Machine DeFi brings programmable peer-to-peer finance into contact with tangible machines that generate real-world value