Bankman-Fried Set To Be Released On Bail

Sam Bankman-Fried has been released on a $250m bond package while he awaits trial on fraud charges related to the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange.

Nicolas Roos, a prosecutor, told US Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein that the bail package would require Bankman-Fried to surrender his passport and remain in home confinement at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California. He would also be required to undergo regular mental health treatment and evaluation.

Bankman-Fried, 30, was arrested on December 13 in the Bahamas, where he lived and where FTX is based, cementing the one-time billionaire’s fall from grace. He departed the Caribbean nation in FBI custody on Wednesday night.

Just hours after Bankman-Fried’s aeroplane from the Bahamas took off, Damian Williams, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, announced that two of Bankman-Fried’s closest associates – former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang – had pleaded guilty and were cooperating with prosecutors.

Williams has described the investigation as ongoing and urged others with knowledge of wrongdoing at FTX and Alameda to come forward.