Sam Bankman-Fried says to Reuters he was still in the Bahamas when rumors spread overnight. That the now-bankrupt former CEO of crypto exchange FTX had fled to South America.
FlightRadar24 tweeted early Saturday that the one-time crypto billionaire flew from Nassau to Argentina. The account cited Tweets as the source that Bankman-Fried was on the plane in question. (Argentina has an extradition pact with the US and was only extradite in October. So it is not an ideal destination for someone trying to evade US authorities.) Reuters asked Bankman-Fried if he flew to Argentina, and he said, “No.” via text message. He added that he lives in the Bahamas, which became his permanent residence last year.
Speculation about SBF’s whereabouts (a nickname givenrities approached Bankman-Frieasd his failed crypto empire.
On Thursday, Bankman-Fried tweeted that it was closing its trading house, Alameda Research; also, on Friday, FTX, the digital asset exchange Bankman-Fried found in 2019. Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the United States. den Bankmann-Fried resigns as CEO. The Financial Times report that the day before filling for bankruptcy protection, the global FTX swap had $900 million in “marketable assets” versus $9 billion in liabilities.
It’s been falling fast from grace for FTX this week.
Earlier this year, in 2022, the exchange was worth $32 billion. Also, Bankman-Frie was hail as a crypto white knight for rescuing several digital asset companies. Its former CEO is reportedly facing investigations from the Justice Department, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the CommodityFuturesTradingCommission.