US Wants to Bring FTX’s Bankman-Fried to Country for Questioning

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried may be coming to the United States for questioning by authorities. 

Authorities from the U.S. and The Bahamas — where FTX is headquartered and where Bankman-Fried is located — have been discussing the possibility of such a trip as part of the many investigations into the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, Bloomberg reported Tuesday (Nov. 15), citing unnamed sources. 

Bankman-Fried has been cooperating with Bahamian authorities and was interviewed by the island nation’s police on Saturday.

FTX did not immediately respond to PYMNTS’ request for comment. 

On Tuesday, Bankman-Fried tweeted as part of a longer thread: “My goal — my one goal — is to do right by customers. I’m contributing what I can to doing so. I’m meeting in-person with regulators and working with the teams to do what we can for customers. And after that, investors. But first, customers.” 

13) My goal—my one goal—is to do right by customers.

I’m contributing what I can to doing so. I’m meeting in-person with regulators and working with the teams to do what we can for customers.

And after that, investors. But first, customers.

— SBF (@SBF_FTX) November 15, 2022

The report of a possible trip to the U.S. comes one day after the Securities Commission of the Bahamas announced the appointment of liquidators for FTX. 

The commission is the lead authority in the Bahamas investigating FTX Digital Markets Ltd. (FDM), FTX Trading, Alameda Research and other related entities that operated in the country, the commission said Monday (Nov. 14) in a press release. 

“Over the coming days and weeks, the commission expects to engage with other supervisory authorities on a regulator-to-regulator basis as this event is multijurisdictional in nature,” the commission said in the release. 

There was also a report Tuesday that Bankman-Fried is still hoping to raise enough cash amid bankruptcy to cover FTX’s users. 

He and a few remaining FTX employees spent the weekend trying to nail down investors to fill an $8 billion shortfall to repay the exchange’s customers, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday, citing unnamed sources.