(FreedomBeacon.com)- Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgrace founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX and a Democratic megadonor, was arrested Tuesday in the Bahamas.
SBF, as he’s colloquially known, was arrested by United States prosecutors in Nassau. His attorney attempted to convince a judge to allow SBF to post bail because he suffers from ADHD and is a vegan, but he was denied that request.
SBF is being charged with eight counts, the Department of Justice announced in a statement earlier this week. If he were to be convicted on all eight counts, he could spend the rest of his life in jail.
A federal grand jury in Manhattan charged SBF, who is only 30 years old, with conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission and commit campaign finance violations, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
The prosecutors are alleging that SBF misappropriated billions of dollars of funds that customers of FTX deposited into their accounts. They also say he lied to many lenders and investors about his company as well as Alameda Research, which is a cryptocurrency hedge fund he runs.
Prosecutors are saying that SBF and some co-conspirators conned and deceived FTX customers from the time the company began. He was using billions from his customers’ accounts to repay loans that Alameda Research owed, as well as other personal uses.
In the last political cycle, SBF was the second-largest donor to the Democratic Party. He donated millions of dollars to both liberal candidates and groups that lean left.
Prosecutors are also alleging that SBF defrauded Alameda Research lenders, as well as FTX equity investors, since he hid how he was misusing the customer deposits. He even attempted to conceal all those contributions he made to politicians by asking co-conspirators to make those contributions in their name.
In total, SBF faces 115 years behind bars for all the charges being levied against them.
SBF was arrested by law enforcement officials in the Bahamas, and they’re expected to extradite him back to the United States. This emphasizes how the Bahamas and the U.S. are cooperating very closely on the case.
In fact, Philip Davis, the prime minister of the Bahamas, said in a statement after the arrested:
“The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest 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.”
Last month, FTX as well as affiliates filed for bankruptcy protection. SBC even stepped down as CEO of the company.
That all happened only weeks after a run on the assets that were in FTX, causing the crypto exchange to ultimately collapse overnight.
