FTX Founder Bankman-Fried Denied Bail in Bahamas After Arrest, Faces Up to 115 Years in Jail

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (2nd L) is led away handcuffed by officers of the Royal Bahamas Police Force in Nassau, Bahamas, on Dec. 13, 2022. Mario Duncanson/AFP via Getty Images

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has been denied bail after his Dec. 12 arrest in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government.

In a hearing that lasted more than three hours on Dec. 13, Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt denied Bankman-Fried’s $250,000 bail request, citing a heightened flight risk because of the former billionaire’s access to financial resources.