SEC slaps charges onto FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried hours after his arrest

The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced it will be filing charges against FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF).

The announcement from the SEC comes shortly after Bahamian law enforcement revealed that SBF had been arrested, which was confirmed by the US Attorney's Office Southern District of New York. The arrest by Bahamian authorities was done at the request of the US government, with Bahamas Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Ryan Pinder, adding that if the US requests extradition, the Bahamas will respond "promptly".

Notably, Bahamian prime Minister Philip David said that both countries have a "shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law." According to reports, SBF is facing charges of wire and securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, and money laundering.

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Furthermore, SBF's arrest comes a day before the former FTX CEO was scheduled to appear before the House Committee on Financial Services to testify in its investigation into the collapse of FTX. SBF said days before his arrest that it wasn't likely he was going to attend the hearing as he believed he wasn't "finished learning and reviewing what happened."

"We commend our law enforcement partners for securing the arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried on federal criminal charges. The SEC has authorized separate charges relating to his violations of securities laws, to be filed publicly tomorrow in SDNY," wrote Gurbir Grewal, the enforcement director for the SEC.