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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has signed legal papers paving the way for his extradition from the Bahamas to the United States where he faces fraud charges.
- Extradition documents for Sam Bankman-Fried were signed on Tuesday
- A hearing in Mr Bankman-Fried's case will take place on Wednesday in the Bahamas
- He stepped down as the chief executive of FTX in November
Mr Bankman-Fried was arrested last week in the Bahamas, where he lives and where FTX was based, after a grand jury sitting in Manhattan federal court indicted him for allegedly stealing customer funds to plug losses at his crypto hedge fund Alameda Research.
He initially told a Bahamas court he would contest extradition, however since said he would reverse his decision.
Doan Cleare, the Bahamas' acting commissioner of corrections, told Reuters the documents were signed around noon on Tuesday, local time.
A court official confirmed a hearing in Mr Bankman-Fried's case will take place on Wednesday 11am local time.
Wednesday's proceeding could set the stage for the 30-year-old cryptocurrency mogul to depart the Caribbean nation, after several days of confusion about the status of Mr Bankman-Fried's extradition.
A US-based lawyer for Mr Bankman-Fried did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.
A person familiar with the matter said Mr Bankman-Fried intends to consent to extradition.
Mr Bankman-Fried has acknowledged risk-management failures at FTX, but has said he does not believe he has criminal liability.
A spokesman for the US attorney's office in Manhattan declined to comment.
During a court hearing on Monday at which Mr Bankman-Fried appeared, his local defence lawyer Jerone Roberts said he had not been informed of the purpose of the proceeding.
He later said while his client had seen an affidavit laying out the charges against him, he wanted to access the complete indictment before agreeing to extradition.
Mr Roberts declined to comment as he departed Magistrate Court in the capital Nassau on Tuesday.
The arrest capped a stunning fall from grace for Mr Bankman-Fried, who rode a boom in the values of bitcoin and other digital assets to become a billionaire several times over.
He has been under increasing scrutiny since early November, when customers raced to withdraw funds from FTX amid concerns over commingling of their assets with Alameda.
Top federal prosecutor in New York City, Damian Williams, said Mr Bankman-Fried's actions amounted to "one of the biggest financial frauds in American history".
The $US32 billion ($46 billion) exchange declared bankruptcy on November 11, and Mr Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO the same day.
He has since been detained at the Bahamas Department of Corrections in Nassau, formerly known as Fox Hill prison.
The US State Department in a 2021 report described conditions at the facility as "harsh," citing overcrowding, rodent infestation and prisoners relying on buckets as toilets.
Local authorities say conditions have since improved.
Reuters