FTX's Bankman-Fried wants to see indictment before agreeing to US extradition, lawyer says

A defence lawyer for Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, told a magistrate judge in the Bahamas on Monday that the former billionaire wanted to see the indictment against him before agreeing to be extradited to the US.

The statement came at a hearing in Nassau before Magistrate Shaka Serville, two hours after Bankman-Fried arrived in court dressed in a dark blue suit and carrying a manila folder containing papers.

Bankman-Fried initially had said he would fight extradition after his arrest a week ago in the Bahamas, where he lives and FTX is based. He was denied bail and remanded to the Caribbean nation's Fox Hill prison.

A source had told Reuters on Saturday that Bankman-Fried would return to court to reverse his decision.

Federal prosecutors in New York said Bankman-Fried stole billions of dollars in FTX customer deposits to plug losses at his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research. They accuse Bankman-Fried of misleading lenders and investors, conspiring to launder money and violating US campaign finance laws.

Bankman-Fried's defence lawyer initially told Serville that he did not know why Bankman-Fried was brought to court on Monday morning. Following a recess, the lawyer said that Bankman-Fried wanted to see the indictment before consenting to extradition.

Mark Cohen, a US lawyer who represents Bankman-Fried, did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The US Attorney's Office in Manhattan and a spokesperson for Bankman-Fried also did not immediately reply to requests for comment.

The 30-year-old crypto mogul rode a boom in the value of bitcoin and other digital assets to become a billionaire several times over and an influential political donor in the US, until FTX collapsed in early November after a wave of withdrawals. The exchange declared bankruptcy on Nov 11.

Bankman-Fried has acknowledged risk management failures at FTX but said he does not believe he has criminal liability.