<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">The Bahamas police have arrested Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, the country's attorney general has said.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The Bahamas said it received formal notification from the US of criminal charges against Mr Bankman-Fried.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Last month FTX filed for bankruptcy in the US, leaving many users unable to withdraw their funds.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">It was the second largest crypto exchange in the world, trading about $10bn of crypto coins every day.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"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 [Southern District of New York]. We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time," the US Attorney's office in Manhattan said in a tweet.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">In a series of interviews and public appearances in recent weeks, Mr Bankman-Fried has acknowledged that mistakes were made at the firm but sought to distance himself from accusations of illegal activity.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">"I didn't ever try to commit fraud," he said at the New York Times' Dealbook Summit at the end of last month.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">FTX filed for bankruptcy protection on 11 November in one of the most high profile collapses of cryptocurrency exchange after users pulled $6bn (£4.9bn) from the platform in three days and rival exchange Binance abandoned a rescue deal.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">At the same time, Mr Bankman-Fried resigned as FTX's chief executive.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">According to a court filing last month, FTX owed its 50 largest creditors almost $3.1bn.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">The collapse of FTX came during a tumultuous year for the cryptocurrency industry.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">This year Bitcoin has lost more than 60% of its value, while other cryptocurrencies have also slumped.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Mr Bankman-Fried was once viewed as a young version of legendary US investor Warren Buffett, and as recently as late October had a net worth estimated at more than $15bn.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">He had become well known in Washington DC as a political donor, supposedly supporting pandemic prevention and improved crypto regulation. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>