An attorney for FTX Co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried proposed that his client pay $250,000 cash bail and wear an ankle bracelet to be allowed to leave his Bahamas jail cell.
The pitch was made on Tuesday during Bankman-Fried’s first court appearance since being arrested in the Bahamas. His US passport was confiscated when he was detained at his luxury penthouse Monday evening.
Dressed in a blue suit and white shirt for the arraignment proceedings, Bankman-Fried at times appeared shaky and fidgety. His parents were present in the courtroom as their 30-year-old son was frequently referred to as a “fugitive.”
Earlier on Tuesday, federal prosecutors in Manhattan revealed that they had charged Bankman-Fried with eight criminal counts, including conspiracy and wire fraud, for allegedly misusing billions of dollars in customers’ funds before last month’s spectacular collapse of his cryptocurrency empire.
During the Bahamas hearing, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer Jerome Roberts said that his client planned to fight extradition to the US to face the charges.
“Mr. Bankman-Fried is reviewing the charges with his legal team and considering all of his legal options,” Mark Cohen, another attorney for Bankman fried said in a statement.
In addition to criminal charges, Bankman-Fried also faces a series of civil allegations from US regulators. The Securities and Exchange Commission said Tuesday that he carried out a multi-year scheme to defraud investors and commingled customer funds.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission claimed Bankman-Fried and other FTX executives took hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from the trading firm Alameda Research, which Bankman-Fried also founded, to buy real estate and make donations to politicians.