Sam Bankaman-Fried, former CEO of FTX, has reconsidered his earlier decision to challenge the extradition and is expected to appear in court in the Bahamas on December 19 to seek a reversal, Reuters reported on December 17, citing a person. familiar with the matter.
By consenting to extradition, Bankman-Fried could appear before a US court. She faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud of customers and lenders, securities fraud, commodity fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the United States and violate campaign finance law.
The move follows Bankman-Fried’s denial of bail on December 13 for “flight risk.” Lawyers for the former CEO argued that SBF has no criminal record and that he suffered from depression and insomnia. A second application for bail was filed with the Bahamas Supreme Court on 15 December.
If convicted, Bankman-Fried could be sentenced to 115 years in prison. However, there is still a lot to address in the case until he receives a final judgment in the coming months or even years, legal commentators told Cointelegraph.
A former federal prosecutor, Mark Cohen, has been hired by the former CEO of FTX to act as his defense attorney. As Cointelegraph reported, Cohen is the co-founder of the law firm Cohen & Gresser, and was a member of the defense team in the high-profile child trafficking case of Ghislaine Maxwell.
Bankman-Fried is being held at Fox Hill Prison, the only jail in the Bahamas. According to a US State Department report published in 2021, conditions at Fox Hill were “harsh” and overcrowded, with poor sanitation and nutrition. Prison officers allegedly physically abused inmates.
Former CEO of Alameda Research, sister company to FTX, Caroline Ellison, has also formed an advocacy team. Stephanie Avakian, a former top cryptocurrency regulator for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will represent Ellison in an open federal investigation. Avakain is currently the chair of the Securities and Financial Services department at WilmerHale Law Firm. In her stint with the SEC, she expanded oversight of cryptocurrency in the Control Division.
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