- Former FTX CEO has agreed to be extradited to the United States.
- Sam Bankman-Fried wanted to see the indictment filed against him in New York before agreeing to extradition.
- FTT price noted a 7.7% decline in the last 24 hours, establishing new lows around $0.860.
The FTX saga is seemingly coming to an end with the hearing underway and the exchange’s CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, placed under arrest. Due to FTX’s reach all across the globe, the company is being investigated by many countries’ authorities. However, Bankman-Fried has decided to bring his court proceedings back to America.
Sam Bankman-Fried comes home
FTX’s former head, during a court appearance in Nassau, Bahamas, made the decision to be extradited to the United States. In doing so, Sam Bankman-Fried will now be facing fraud charges at the hands of the SEC and CFTC.
His return to the US has been a matter of discussion since his arrest in the Bahamas on December 12. While Magistrate Shaka Serville did not reach a clear decision, Bankman-Fried did. According to a Reuters report, the defendant’s lawyer stated that following a recess, FTX’s former CEO decided he wanted to see the indictment filed against him.
The indictment was filed last week in New York, and only after seeing this, Bankman-Fried decided to consent to the extradition. Taking note of the extradition, the Magistrate, during the hearing, stated,
“I can only be moved by Mr. Bankman-Fried, and he has not moved me”.
The reason given by Bankman-Fried’s lawyer, Jerone Roberts, for his agreement to be extradited was that he wanted to do right by the customers. He stated,
“We as counsel will prepare the necessary documents to trigger the court. Mr. Bankman-Fried wishes to put the customers right, and that is what has driven his decision.”
FTX token loses value further
FTX token, FTT, noted a further decline in its price over the last 24 hours following Bankman-Fried’s decision. The altcoin dipped by almost 17.2%, falling to a low of $0.862 before retracing and closing in the red losing 7.7%, to trade at $0.967 at the time of writing.
FTT/USD 1-day chart
The price decrease was triggered by Bankman-Fried’s announcement since the rest of the market observed no such decline. Over the last 24 hours, the total market capitalization of the crypto space only lost $16 billion, sliding by 2%. Thus the broader market cues are relatively better than FTT’s condition.
