Sam Bankman-Fried delays agreement on extradition to US

The crypto tycoon has acknowledged failures at FTX but says he does not believe he has criminal liability

Sam Bankman-Fried is escorted into the court building in Nassau, Bahamas on Monday (REUTERS)

A lawyer for Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, told a judge in the Bahamas on Monday that the former billionaire was not yet ready to agree to be extradited to the United States.

Bankman-Fried has seen an affidavit laying out the charges against him, but has not yet read the indictment filed last week in Manhattan federal court accusing him of stealing billions of dollars in customer deposits to plug losses at his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research, said the lawyer, Jerone Roberts.

It came at a two-hour hearing in Nassau before Magistrate Shaka Serville. When the hearing concluded, Bankman-Fried was given the chance to speak on the phone with his US lawyer with Roberts present. No further court date was set.

Bankman-Fried, dressed in a dark blue jacket and an untucked white shirt, spoke only to greet the judge and confirm he would speak with his US counsel. At one point during the hearing, he leaned back with his eyes closed and appeared to be awakened by a court official.

After the hearing, Bankman-Fried was remanded back to the custody of the Bahamas' Department of Corrections. He departed the courthouse in a black van marked 'Corrections' carrying a manila folder.

Sam Bankman-Fried is escorted out of the court building in Nassau on Monday (REUTERS)

Bankman-Fried was arrested last week in the Bahamas - where he lives and where FTX is based - after federal prosecutors in Manhattan accused him of misleading lenders and investors, conspiring to launder money and violating US campaign finance laws.

Roberts initially told Serville that he did not know why Bankman-Fried was brought to court on Monday morning. Following a recess, the lawyer said that Bankman-Fried wanted to see the indictment before consenting to extradition.

Bankman-Fried has acknowledged risk-management failures at FTX but said he does not believe he has criminal liability.

The 30-year-old crypto mogul rode a boom in the value of bitcoin and other digital assets to become a billionaire several times over and an influential political donor in the United States, until FTX collapsed in early November after a wave of withdrawals. The exchange declared bankruptcy on Nov. 11.

Additional reporting by Jared Higgs.