The FBI is in talks with Bahamian authorities to extradite the 30-year-old crypto founder.

According to a report by Daily Mail, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is planning to bring Sam Bankman-Fried to the US for questioning and is speaking with Bahamian authorities to this effect.

Notably, the Daily Mail report cites a Bloomberg story that claims three sources close to the matter verified the information.

It comes as SBF’s crypto firms collapsed spectacularly following a bank run. Notably, in the days leading up to the collapse of his empire, SBF had assured users in now-deleted tweets that the platform and user assets were fine, saying FTX remained capable of handling all client withdrawals. 

Furthermore, days after halting withdrawals, the firm appeared to be processing withdrawals again, which it claimed were to Bahamian residents under the instruction of Bahamian regulators. Bahamian regulators have since denied this claim.

However, in the aftermath of the collapse, reports of shady financial practices at the crypto exchange appear all but confirmed. For example, Reuters reports that the now-former FTX CEO covertly diverted $10 million in client funds to support his trading firm Alameda Research which had been failing. Notably, at least $1 billion of those deposits is unaccounted for.

(By Ammara)