EXCLUSIVE: ‘I want him to go to jail for a very long time!’ Crypto big shots protest outside Bahamas court as Sam Bankman-Fried faces extradition hearing, saying he should stay in the rat-infested island prison rather than get transfer to cozy US lock-up

• Sam Bankman-Fried, 30, is due in court today for an extradition hearing  
• Protestors are gathered outside court, including Ben Armstrong – who calls himself Bitboy on social and is major player in the currency
• ‘I want to stare him in the eyes. I want to look him in the face. I want him to go to jail for a very long time,’ Armstrong told DailyMail.com
• Armstrong, from Atlanta, is with a group of five irate members of the crypto community who have worked with projects involving SBF’s failed FTX
• Nassau’s Fox Hill prison where SBF is being held is notorious for chronic overcrowding as well as rodent and maggot infestations

Furious big-time crypto influencers gathered outside a court in the Bahamas Monday before the extradition hearing of fallen tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried – demanding he stays to face the music in capital Nassau.

Ben Armstrong – who calls himself Bitboy on social and is major player in the currency – told DailyMail.com: ‘We are here representing the people in crypto to hold Sam accountable for what he’s done.

‘It’s not just what he has done to individual investors but also to crypto projects – the predatory business practices FTX used quite often destroys crypto projects. 

‘We are also here on behalf of all the companies they invested in and signed on that didn’t know the antics that they were up to.

‘I want to stare him in the eyes. I want to look him in the face. I want him to go to jail for a very long time.’

Bankman-Fried shuffled into court number four at Magistrates Court around 10.30am and sat alone on the front bench.

The normally untidy guru was in the same blue suit and white shirt he was wearing during his first court appearance last week following his dramatic arrest.

Sam Bankman-Fried is due in court today for an extradition hearing

Protestors are gathered outside court, including Ben Armstrong – who calls himself Bitboy on social and is major player in the currency. ‘I want to stare him in the eyes. I want to look him in the face. I want him to go to jail for a very long time,’ Armstrong told DailyMail.com

The mop-haired mogul had pleaded to be allowed $250,000 bail and house arrest at that marathon hearing, saying he was a depressed vegan

SBF was still scruffy, with the cuffs on his shirt undone and hanging down. However his shoes were shiny brown wingtips and he was wearing smart cream socks.

SBF, as he likes to be called, constantly tapped his right foot nervously before Magistrate Shakaa Serbille arrived.

He also clenched and unclenched his hands nervously while still tapping his right foot – which it has been reported is a trademark mannerism of his.

At first he looked down at the floor but as the minutes ticked by he slumped right over with his head bowed fully down.

The magistrate arrived and SBF nodded as he arrived.

But then his lawyer Jerone Roberts told the court he was surprised his client was there and asked for a recess to discuss a legal issue.

‘I am shocked Mr Bankman-Fried is here this morning. I didn’t request him to be here,’ he said.

The hearing was adjourned for a recess at 10.45am.

Armstrong, from Atlanta, is with a group of five irate members of the crypto community who have worked with projects involving Bankman-Freed’s currency exchange FTX, which imploded to the tune of $32billion. 

They have brought investors to the Bahamas and are demanding the mop-haired mogul is not extradited to the US.

They rallied as Bankman-Fried was due in Magistrates Court today to agree to be extradited to the United States over ‘one of the biggest financial frauds in American history’.

Armstrong said: ‘I want him to suffer in that jail in the Bahamas, to suffer those conditions Once he gets to the US he’s just another white collar criminal in a Club Fed.’ 

The co-founder of collapsed currency exchange FTX has spent six nights in the island chain’s notorious Fox Hill prison.

A U.S. government plane is reported to be on standby to whisk the disgraced financier to New York if and when a plan is confirmed.

Bankman-Fried, 30 – whose personal $16billion fortune vanished in FTX’s cataclysmic $32billion overnight crash – would probably be held at the tough Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

That is also where pedophile Jeffrey Epstein’s madam Ghislaine Maxwell was incarcerated for two years before getting a 20-year sentence for grooming minors for sexual abuse.

It is additionally understood the crypto whizz-kid-turned pariah would appear in a Manhattan court within 48 hours of arriving in the United States, where the prospect of bail could be discussed. Prosecutors are expected to fight any freedom bid.

Bankman-Fried’s sudden reversal comes after he initially refused to waive his right to extradition when he first appeared in court on December 13, after being dramatically arrested at his $40million penthouse the evening before.

The mop-haired mogul had pleaded to be allowed $250,000 bail and house arrest at that marathon hearing, saying he was a depressed vegan.

Justin Paperny of White Collar Advice, a prison consultancy company which advises defendants on how to get through their time in custody, said: ‘Bankman-Fried will be begging to come back to America after his time in the Bahamian prison.

‘The MDC in Brooklyn will be immeasurably better than what he’s enduring now. Ghislaine Maxwell didn’t like it but the majority of inmates are fine there.

‘My advice to him is to not complain about his situation with other inmates and be careful about what he’s saying to people as others might turn information over to the US government.

‘He should avoid bragging about his friendships with people like Tom Brady as other inmates will think he’s a showoff and presume he still has money and can be exploited’.

Fox Hill prison where Bankman-Fried is being detained. A prison official said the cells are ‘roughly 8ft by 10ft. Some have bathroom facilities, but many do not’

Prisoners dressed in rough looking uniforms of wide blue and gray stripes, could be seen in various work parties in the low security area beside the main entrance

But Chief Magistrate Joyann Pratt-Ferguson refused and dispatched him in handcuffs the lock-up – officially named His Majesty’s Prison Fox Hill.

SBF, as he likes to be known, faces eight charges which include allegedly conning investors out of $1.8billion by diverting cash to his private crypto hedge fund Alameda Research, run by ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison, 28.

They include wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Each carry a maximum prison term of 20 years, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where they were filed.

Bankman-Fried has been held in the maximum security section sickbay of Fox Hill for evaluation since his arrival. New inmates normally have two weeks of assessment before being moved to the general prison population.

During December 13’s marathon court hearing, it was revealed he takes medication for depression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). And DailyMail.com has exclusively revealed jail bosses would likely put him on round-the-clock suicide watch once in a 10ft by 8ft individual cell, probably without a toilet.

The disgraced financier’s circumstances at Fox Hill could not be more dramatically different than the ones he was enjoying only seven days ago – which might explain his sudden change of heart over extradition.

Bankman-Fried hunkered down at his penthouse following FTX’s bankruptcy protection filing on November 11, after it buckled under the pressure of traders rushing to withdraw $6billion in 72 hours.

The magnificent pad occupies the entire top floor of an ocean-front apartment block in the ultra-exclusive development of The Albany on the island of New Providence.

With 7,500 square feet, five bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms and a pool directly in front of the master suite, it is the jewel in one of the highly-secure community’s landmark buildings, The Orchid.

At the time he was reportedly trying to secure a long-shot multi-billion-dollar bailout of the crypto currency exchange he co-founded just three years ago.

The MIT graduate shared the property with a ‘polycule’ of his nerdy college pals-turned FTX employees, including on-off lover Caroline Ellison – allegedly enjoying polyamorous sexual relations and marathon video game sessions.

But for the past week he has been coping with conditions at Fox Hill, which has been condemned in various reports.

Bankman-Fried hunkered down at his Bahamas penthouse following FTX’s bankruptcy protection filing on November 11, after it buckled under the pressure of traders rushing to withdraw $6billion in 72 hours

With 7,500 square feet, five bedrooms, 7.5 bathrooms and a pool directly in front of the master suite, SBF’s penthouse is the jewel in one of the highly-secure community’s landmark buildings, The Orchid 

The facility was designed to hold 1,200 inmates but regularly holds double that number.

A US State Department study found that it was infested with rats and maggots. And inmates were only allowed out of their cells for 30 minutes a week due to staff shortages.

One section of the study reads: ‘Many cells also lacked running water, and in those cells, inmates removed human waste by bucket.’

SBF installed ex girlfriend Caroline Ellison as CEO of the multibillion dollar fund in October 2021, despite her limited professional trading experience

It continued: ‘Sanitation was a general problem, with cells infested with rats, maggots and insects. Ventilation was also a general problem. Prisoners in maximum security had access to sanitary facilities only one hour a day and used slop buckets as toilets.’

Another section said: ‘Prison inmates complained about the lack of beds and bedding. As a result, inmates developed bedsores from lying on the bare ground.’

While a study done years previously described the prison as ‘harsh’ and ‘primitive’. There are a total of seven housing units in the prison, including maximum security, female and central intake.

A 2021 Amnesty International study found prisoners did not have access to bathrooms and were forced to slop out. Suicides are common as mental health care for inmates is ‘virtually non-existent’, added the report.

The study said: ‘There have been repeated, unconfirmed, serious allegations of sexual abuse and rape which do not appear to have been adequately investigated by the authorities.’

United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said when he unveiled the charges against Bankman-Fried: ‘It’s fair to say… this is one of the biggest financial frauds in American history’.

And a separate complaint filed against him by The Securities and Exchange Commission alleges SBF ‘orchestrated a years-long fraud’ by diverting money to his Alameda Research ‘privately held crypto hedge fund’ and concealing that from investors.

‘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,’ said SEC Chair Gary Gensler.

‘The alleged fraud committed by Mr. Bankman-Fried is a clarion call to crypto platforms that they need to come into compliance with our law.’

Gurbir S. Grewal, Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement said FTX ‘operated under a veneer of legitimacy’ and added ‘as we alleged in out complaint, that veneer wasn’t just thin, it was fraudulent.’

Ryan Salame, co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, as seen in his Twitter profile picture

Salame and his girlfriend, cryptocurrency lobbyist and one-time Republican congressional candidate Michelle Bond

Meanwhile, prosecutors are also looking into who else knew of what was allegedly happening – pushing his business associate and right-wing reflection into the spotlight.

They are also asking Democrats and Republicans to provide details of the donations received by Bankman-Fried, a Democrat mega-donor, and his associates.

Ryan Salame, 29, was co-chief executive of FTX Digital Markets, the company’s subsidiary in the Bahamas, and was fast emerging as a serious figure in Republican donor circles.

In another development, Bankman-Fried’s ex Ellison may be working with prosecutors to protect herself after hiring a legal team to protect her, a former US Attorney has claimed.

Marc Litt said: ‘She was the CEO of a company that seems to be intimately involved in the alleged fraud, and she’s… in the cross-hairs of the government… and she’s got a choice to make.’

Ellison will face scrutiny over the transfer of client funds to Alameda.

She has remained silent and has hired Stephanie Avakian, former director of the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Enforcement to represent her.

‘There’s a little bit of a race to the prosecution at this point because the government needs cooperators,’ Litt said.

‘It’s in her interest to spin her narrative and tell her story before everybody else that the government talks to, points the finger at her, so she has every incentive to cooperate and get the benefits of cooperation.’

Source: Read Full Article