Sam Bankaman-Fried, former FTX CEO, has reportedly reconsidered his earlier decision to contest extradition and is expected to appear in court in the Bahamas on Dec. 19 to seek a reversal, Reuters reported on Dec. 17 citing a person familiar with the matter. By consenting to extradition, Bankman-Fried would be able to appear in a United States court. He faces charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud on customers and lenders, securities fraud, commodities fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States and violate the campaign finance law. The move follows the Bankman-Fried's bail denial on Dec. 13 …

A lawyer representing provisional liquidators overseeing FTX’s assets has pushed back against allegations officials in the Bahamas were using the collapse of the crypto exchange to benefit its residents first. In a Dec. 16 hearing for FTX Trading’s bankruptcy proceedings, White & Case partner Jason Zakia said allegations made by debtors concerning FTX assets and Bahamian authorities were “wholly without merit”. The legal team represented provisional liquidators whose appointments were approved by the Supreme Court of the Bahamas in November and had “no involvement” in the downfall of FTX prior to its bankruptcy, according to Zakia. “In any international case …

On Dec. 15 lawyers representing FTX filed a motion with the United States Bankruptcy Court seeking permission to sell off the firm's Japanese and European branches, derivatives exchange LedgerX and stock-clearing platform Embed. The lawyers note that each of these businesses have been under pressure from regulators, which “merit[s] an expeditious sale process,” adding: “The longer operations are suspended, the greater the risk to the value of the assets and the risk of a permanent revocation of licenses.” FTX Japan is currently subject to a business suspension and improvement orders, while FTX Europe has had its licenses and operations suspended. …

Bitcoin (BTC) miner Core Scientific’s stock has soared nearly 200% in the past four days, following the positive reception for a Dec. 14 financing proposal from a current creditor who is hoping the firm can avoid bankruptcy. Shares for the embattled miner were sitting just over 13 cents on Dec. 12, before climbing to nearly 40 cents as the market closed on Dec. 15 — representing a gain of 198%. According to financial media firm Marketbeat, traders acquired 6,572 call options on Dec. 15, 136% more than the average volume of 2,780, which indicates that many are bullish on the …

Sam Bankman-Fried, former FTX CEO, faces eight accusations and could get 115 years in jail, but there is a "lot to play out" until he gets a final sentence over the coming months or even years, legal commentators told Cointelegraph. "It is difficult to say at this stage what the likely outcome will be, but the stakes are very high indeed. Sentences in major fraud cases can vary, with Bernie Madoff receiving a 150 year sentence in 2009, whilst in the Enron case a few years earlier the sentences handed out to the prime movers were much lower," stated Richard …

A United States Trustee has announced nine creditors to the committee responsible for part of crypto exchange FTX’s bankruptcy proceedings. According to court documents filed Dec. 15, U.S. Trustee Andrew Vara named crypto market maker Wintermute Asia among those on the ‘Committee of Unsecured Creditors’. Other creditors included individual investors, crypto hedge fund Coincident Capital, GGC International — an affiliate of lending platform Genesis — Pulsar Global, Wincent Investment Fund, and Octopus Information. The committee would play a role in representing creditors who lost funds or were otherwise affected by the downfall of FTX. The firm’s bankruptcy filing on Nov. …

Financial services platform B. Riley has offered Bitcoin (BTC) miner Core Scientific $72 million in financing to avoid bankruptcy and preserve value for Core Scientific stakeholders. B. Riley, a top lender to Core Scientific with $42 million in loans currently outstanding, outlined the terms of the financing agreement in a Dec. 14 letter noting it's prepared to fund the first $40 million “immediately, with zero contingencies.” The finance platform suggested the remaining $32 million would be conditional on the BTC miner suspending all payments to equipment lenders while Bitcoin prices are below $18,500. The last time the price of Bitcoin …

Mike Belshe, the CEO of digital asset custodian BitGo has confirmed that Alameda Research attempted to redeem 3,000 Wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC) in the days before FTX’s bankruptcy filing on Nov. 11. During a Dec. 14 Twitter Spaces hosted by decentralized finance (DeFi) researcher Chris Blec, Belshe confirmed the firm knocked back the redemption request because the unknown Alameda representative involved didn’t pass Bitgo’s security verification process and seemed unfamiliar with how the wrapped-Bitcoin burning process worked. Full convo here. This part starts at 1:09:30. https://t.co/0KQg6bzd8k — Chris Blec (@ChrisBlec) December 14, 2022 “[The security details] didn't match the process. So …

According to Bahamian court records filed on Dec. 14, Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets told the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB) on Nov. 9 that FTX was sending customer funds to its sister trading firm Alameda Research. He also told the SCB only three people had the access required to transfer client assets to Alameda: Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX co-founder Zixiao “Gary” Wang and FTX engineer Nishad Singh. The allegation spurred SCB executive director Christina Rolle to contact the commissioner of the Royal Bahamas Police Force to request an investigation. Related: Realized losses …

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis has attempted to put the FTX collapse into perspective — comparing peak weekly-realized losses in the wake of the exchange’s collapse compared to previous major crypto collapses in 2022. The Dec. 14 report found the depegging of Terra USD (UST) in May saw weekly-realized losses peak at $20.5 billion, while the subsequent collapse of Three Arrows Capital and Celsius in June saw weekly-realized losses peak at $33 billion. In comparison, weekly realized losses during the FTX saga peaked at $9 billion in the week starting Nov. 7, and have been reducing weekly since. 1/ Our data …

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, was arrested on Dec 12, a day before he was set to testify before Congress remotely. A copy of his testimony, obtained by Forbes, highlights that the disgraced CEO planned to blame the spectral downfall of his $32 billion empire on everyone but himself. SBF continued the same rhetoric about FTX.US, the sister company of the global cryptocurrency exchange, in his testimony. He claimed that the United States-based entity was still “fully solvent” despite it being a part of the Chapter 11 bankruptcy filed on Nov. 11. Bankman Fried wrote: “I …

John Ray, who took over as CEO of crypto exchange FTX amid bankruptcy proceedings, has written detailed testimony in preparation for his appearance before the United States House Financial Services Committee. In testimony made available for the ‘Investigating the Collapse of FTX, Part I’ hearing on Dec. 13, Ray reiterated many of the claims made in bankruptcy court, saying the collapse of the collapse was due in part to “the absolute concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of grossly inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals.” Ray, who oversaw the liquidation of energy company Enron during the early …