Sam Bankman Fried was arrested in the Bahamas Monday right before he was set to testify before congress along with John Ray III, FTX’s current CEO, on Tuesday. The timing of the arrest seems odd. However, in light of the vast donations, the disgraced cryptocurrency executive donated to Democrats, Republicans like Lee Zeldin expect answers from Bankman-Fried on his actions and speculate on the timing of his arrest.

Bankman Fried was under federal investigation after his crypto exchange company FTX went bankrupt. He is accused of mishandling customer funds. Bankman Fried is the second largest donor to the Democrat party, coming in behind Soros. He used his money to infuse $38 million into Democrat causes during the 2022 election cycle. Ukraine, who has received millions of dollars from the Democrat-controlled legislature, was an FTX customer, investing monies into a company that turned around and donated millions back to Democrats. Some are calling this the biggest financial fraud case in U.S. history.

Rep Lee Zeldin tweeted, “Tomorrow, Sam Bankman-Fried was scheduled to testify in front of the House Financial Services Committee. The House GOP was ready to grill him six ways to Sunday. Now Breaking tonight, SBF was just arrested! Why not allow him to 1st testify tomorrow and answer our many questions?”

 

Bankman-Fried was arrested by Bahamian police following a “receipt of formal notification from the United States that it has filed criminal charges against SBF and is likely to request his extradition.”

According to Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis, the Bahamas are also investigating SBF in a regulatory and criminal investigation, saying he may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law.

“The Bahamas and the United States in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law.

While the United States is pursuing criminal charges against SBF individually, The Bahamas will continue its own regulatory and criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX, with the continued cooperation of its law enforcement and regulatory partners in the United States and elsewhere.”

 

The office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs made a statement regarding sending SBF back to the U.S. under extradition saying they would process the request quickly,

“At such time as a formal request for extradition is made, The Bahamas intends to process it promptly, pursuant to Bahamian law and its treaty obligations with the United States.”

On Monday, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement given to Fox News,

“We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.”

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York confirmed Bankman-Fried’s arrest based on a sealed indictment from the court.

FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, when the firm ran out of money after what amounted to a “bank-run” following growing concerns about the financial strength of the currency which prompted customers to withdraw their assets all at once. The collapse took place just days after the mid-terms.

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