Last night, the former CEO of crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman Fried (SBF), was arrested in the Bahamas. The Attorney General for the Southern District of New York said on Twitter that the arrest was at his request and that an indictment against SBF will be unsealed today (Dec. 13). At the same time, the SEC said it will file separate charges today.

Although the Bahamas has an extradition treaty with the United States, it is rarely a quick process.

It also means that SBF will not attend today’s Congressional Hearing by the House Financial Services Committee.

Committee chair Maxine Waters was upset that she won’t show up. “While Mr. Bankman-Fried must be held accountable, the American public deserves to hear directly from Mr. Bankman-Fried about the actions that harmed more than a million people and wiped out the hard-earned life savings of so many people, said Aguas. But he said: “It is about time that the process to bring Mr. Bankman-Fried to justice begins.”

Senator Sherrod Brown, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, applauded the Justice Department and the Bahamian authorities for “holding Sam Bankman-Fried accountable.”

However, the new FTX CEO, John Ray, will testify and a prepared transcript of his speech repeats previous statements about the complete lack of controls in the FTX group.

While SBF questioned whether FTX US should have been listed in bankruptcy, Ray clarified that the company did not operate independently from the rest of the group.

“Unacceptable management practices” include a lack of controls, so there was nothing to prevent senior management from “redirecting” client assets. There were no limits on how much Alameda could borrow from FTX.com and use for its own transactions, and the assets were mixed. Despite spending billions on 500 venture investments, full documentation is lacking. This will probably make it more difficult to sell them.

Returning to the accusations, the Department of Justice will have provided evidence to the Bahamian authorities. As we highlighted yesterday, in order to prosecute criminal fraud, it is necessary to demonstrate intent. We explored a potential avenue that looks bad for SBF, but there are several.

The congressional headlining takes place today at 10 am ET, at which time the two indictments should go public.