Sam Bankman-Fried, the former chief executive of FTX, has reportedly reconsidered his earlier decision to challenge the extradition and is expected to appear in court in the Bahamas on December 19 to seek a reversal, Reuters reported on December 17, citing a person familiar with the matter.
By consenting to extradition, Bankman-Fried could appear before a US court. She faces charges of conspiracy to commit customer and lender wire fraud, securities fraud, commodity fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the United States and violate campaign finance law.
The move follows Bankman-Fried's denial of bail on December 13 due to "flight risk." Lawyers for the former CEO argued that SBF has no criminal record and suffered from depression and insomnia. A second application for bail was supposedly featured in the Bahamas Supreme Court on December 15.
If convicted, Bankman-Fried could receive 115 years in jail. However, there is "a lot to play for" in the case until he gets a final judgment within the next few months or even years. legal commentators told Cointelegraph.
Related: Former FTX Employee: Extravagant Spending And Cult Worship Of SBF
A former federal prosecutor, Mark Cohen, has been hired by the former CEO of FTX to act as his defense attorney. As reported by CointelegraphCohen is a co-founder of the law firm Cohen & Gresser, and was a member of the defense team in the high-profile child trafficking case of Ghislaine Maxwell.
Bankman-Fried is being held at Fox Hill Prison, the only prison in the Bahamas. According to a US State Department report released in 2021, conditions at Fox Hill were "harsh" and overcrowded, with poor sanitation and nutrition. It was alleged that the detainees had been physically mistreated by prison officials.
Former CEO of Alameda Research, a sister company of FTX, Caroline Ellison, has also formed a defense team. Stephanie Avakian, a former top cryptocurrency regulator for the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), will represent Ellison in an ongoing federal investigation. Avakain is currently President of Securities and Financial Services at the WilmerHale Law Firm. In her role at the SEC, she expanded oversight of cryptocurrency in the Enforcement Division.
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