Sam Bankman-Fried remained in a Bahamian jail Monday despite reports he would allow his extradition to the US — following what a local judge called a “wasted day” in court.
The 30-year-old alleged crypto grifter had been widely expected to give up his extradition fight Monday following his arrest in the Bahamas last week on US charges he’d defrauded investors to the tune of $1.8 billion.
But Bankman-Fried’s appearance in the Nassau courthouse Monday morning surprised his local lawyer, Jerone Roberts, according to local outlet Eyewitness News Bahamas.
Roberts called the hearing “shocking” and “premature,” and said he had not expected his client to be in court.
“Whatever trail that got him here this morning, it did not involve me,” Roberts said, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Magistrate Shaka Serville adjourned the court for a short time so Roberts and Bankman-Fried could confer.
Upon resumption of the hearing, the prosecution said it had been under the impression that Bankman-Fried would be waving his right to an extradition hearing.
Lead prosecutor Franklyn Williams called the hearing a waste of time, according to local reports.
Serville, presiding over the court Monday, agreed, calling the day “wasted” as he remanded Bankman-Fried to jail amid the confusion.
The hearing comes after a week of efforts by the embattled FTX chairman to get out of the island nation’s notorious Fox Hill Prison, which is reportedly overrun with rats and maggots and has been slammed by human rights officials as offering inadequate medical and sanitary conditions to inmates, according to reports.
Last Tuesday he asked to be let out of the jail citing his vegan diet and apparent ADD diagnosis. His attorney proposed a $250,000 cash bail, which was denied after prosecutors argued he posed a flight risk.
He made a second pitch for bail Thursday after a magistrate judge in the Caribbean country ordered Bankman-Fried remanded pending his potential extradition to the US, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
Should Bankman-Fried be extradited to the States, his case is expected to be tried in the Southern District of New York.
Federal prosecutors at the Manhattan court declined to comment on Monday’s hearing, and Bankman-Fried’s US defense attorney did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
