“We allege that Sam Bankman-Fried built a house of cards on a foundation of deception while telling investors that it was one of the safest buildings in crypto,” SEC chair Gary Gensler said in a statement.
In November, Bankman-Fried continued to mislead investors because he needed money “to plug a multi-billion-dollar hole,” the SEC claimed in the complaint.
The commission accused Bankman-Fried of violating sections of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, per the complaint.
FTX, which Bankman-Fried cofounded, and its affiliates collapsed in mid-November.
Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday based on a “sealed indictment” from US authorities, the US Attorney’s Office Southern District of New York announced on social media.
Authorities are “likely” to request extradition of Bankman-Fried, the Bahamas attorney general, Sen. Ryan Pinder KC, said in a statement.
