Sam Bankman-Fried, the jailed founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange has reportedly signed papers on Dec. 20 waiving his extradition hearing in the Bahamasand see him flown to the United States to face multiple criminal charges.
A hearing in the Bahamas Supreme Court was set for Dec. 21 regarding the matter. Bankman-Fried reportedly wanted to see the indictment against him before he agreed to extradition to the U.S. and was expected to drop his extradition fight according to reports on Dec. 19.
ABC News first reported the development on Dec. 20 citing the Bahamas acting commissioner of corrections Doan Cleare.
Cointelegraph contacted the acting commissioner’s office for confirmation but did not immediately receive a response.
With the papers signed, Bankman-Fried should be permitted to transit to New York where he faces eight counts in an indictment from the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
He faces charges from the Department of Justice relating to wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit wire, commodities and securities fraud, and campaign finance violations.
The FTX founder faces further charges relating to commodity law violations and defrauding investors from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) respectively.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of 115 years in prison if convicted of all counts.
Meanwhile, a Dec. 20 Instagram post from local media outlet Bahamas Press claiming Bankman-Fried was “rushed” to hospital from prison had made the rounds on social media, but was later debunked.
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