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Bahamas regulators freeze FTX assets, await delivery to creditors

FTX Bankrupcy
Posted at 2:52 PM, Dec 30, 2022
and last updated 2022-12-30 16:52:35-05

Bahamas authorities announced that billions in assets connected to the downfall of the crypto currency exchange FTX is being held after its founder Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested there at the request of U.S. authorities.

Bankman-Fried did not fight extradition and was under the watch of U.S. law enforcement, facing criminal charges for defrauding investors before the crypto exchange collapsed.

He is accused of taking billions of dollars in one of the worst crypto currency failures in recent history.

RELATED: Sam Bankman-Fried plea to come in fraud case over FTX cryptocurrency exchange

Sam Bankman-Fried
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, is escorted from the Magistrate Court in Nassau, Bahamas, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022, after agreeing to be extradited to the U.S. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

As Reuters reported, the Securities Commission of the Bahamas announced that it will hold assets from FTX totaling around $3.5 billion and will do so based on market pricing at the time of transfer.

Authorities in the Caribbean nation will hold those assets on a temporary basis, it was announced, before they are handed over to creditors and customers of the exchange, who own those funds.