Sam Bankman-Fried’s willingness to be extradited apparently wasn’t caused by great discomfort in Bahamian jail.
During his eight days in prison, the founder of FTX was kept in a sickbay in which he had access to running water, a shower, a toilet, a cot and television, Bloomberg reported Wednesday (Dec. 21).
While it wasn’t as comfortable as the luxury penthouse in the Bahamas he shared with FTX colleagues, it was reportedly a step up from the conditions of other inmates at the same prison.
According to the Bloomberg report, other maximum-security cells at the prison are overcrowded, rat infested and lack the amenities of the sickbay — as inmates often must sleep on the floor.
Beyond that, Bankman-Fried was also provided with vegan food and access to a special phone line on which he could talk with his lawyer, the report said.
Wednesday morning, as he left the prison to go to court and formally agree to extradition, Bankman-Fried wished the staff a Merry Christmas, per the report.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Bankman-Fried is set to be extradited Wednesday night. Depending on when he arrives in New York, he is to appear in court in Manhattan for a bail hearing, CNN reported Wednesday.
It’s been a busy few weeks for Bankman-Fried since the crypto exchange he founded, FTX, and about 130 affiliated companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. and he stepped down as CEO on Nov. 11.
Just a day later, it was reported that Bahamian authorities questioned him to determine whether there was criminal conduct involved in FTX’s collapse.
A day after that, on Nov. 13, it was reported that at least $1 billion in customer funds had disappeared.
It soon became clear that the persona Bankman-Fried had built around the philosophy of effective altruism wouldn’t hold up to scrutiny. As PYMNTS’ Karen Webster wrote Nov. 14, “A lot of people will lose a lot of money, and it will take time before the full extent of this crisis will be known — a crisis that was largely avoidable if investors had done their job and the media with access to him had done theirs.”
Over the following week, Bankman-Fried told Vox that his company’s decision to declare bankruptcy was a mistake and the new CEO of FTX said the situation at the company Bankman-Fried had led was “worse than Enron.”
Since then, Bankman-Fried sidestepped criminal liability during a live Q&A, said he would “eventually” accept an invitation to appear before a congressional committee, agreed to accept the invitation and be a witness at a hearing investigation the collapse of FTX and was arrested in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government.
After being hit with eight counts of fraud and conspiracy by U.S. prosecutors and engaging in an on-again, off-again agreement to be extradited, he’s now set to head to the U.S.
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