Embattled former FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in the Bahamas

Sam Bankman-Fried (left) has been arrested in the Bahamas. The FTX collapse has caused chaos for investors, and for NFL star Tom Brady and NBA franchise the Miami Heat.

The embattled former CEO of cryptocurrency giant FTX Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested in the Bahamas.

This afternoon, the US Attorney in the Southern District of New York said Bahamian authorities arrested Bankman-Fried at the request of the US government.

“We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time,” the US Attorney said on social media.

“Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the US Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY. We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time,” they said.

Last month FTX went from being the vanguard of a new crypto economy, with a valuation of US$32 billion and celebrated by celebrities and politicians, to a humiliating bankruptcy, all in the space of a few days.

FTX was based in the Bahamas.

As the Herald reported a month ago, billions of dollars might have gone missing from the cryptocurrency exchange’s implosion.

The scandal led to the Miami Heat basketball team terminating its relationship with Sam Bankman-Fried, who quit on Friday as chief executive of the Bahamas-based firm.

NFL superstar Tom Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion, was among the investors in FTX and was last year made a brand ambassador for FTX.

Reports from the United States at one point alleged Bankman-Fried secretly funnelled US$10 billion (NZ$16.39b) of customer funds into trading company Alameda Research.

And then conflicting reports and claims emerged about who was running Alameda.

Last month, Bankman-Fried put much of the blame for FTX’s downfall on Alameda, the trading firm his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison reportedly ran.

But earlier this month he admitted in an interview with the Financial Times to much closer involvement in financial decisions at Alameda than previously disclosed.

The FT said that interview seemed to be part of a “contrite media campaign” Bankman-Fried launched.

The ex-mogul admitted in several interviews to what he called “massive oversights”, “huge f**kups” and a lack of “rigorous thinking”.

According to The Guardian, today’s arrest happened just 24 hours before the cryptocurrency exchange founder was set to testify before US Congress.