Attorney General opposes FTX’s undue advantage over Bahamas Legislative

According to Bahamian Attorney General Ryan Pinder on Sunday, the Bahamas government is still conducting “an ongoing and active investigation” into the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX. However, he also praised the regulatory framework of the country and the speed with which it handled the crisis.

The Bahamas serves as the company headquarters for FTX, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world. The corporation is the focus of investigations by Bahamian and US authorities. A lack of funding caused the company to file for bankruptcy on November 11. The Royal Bahamas Police issued a statement in the middle of November stating that officers in the Bahamas were investigating any “criminal activity” that may have occurred.

According to his prepared remarks for the address, Pinder said on Sunday that “we are in the early phases of an active and ongoing inquiry.” This investigation is quite tricky. Both civil and criminal agencies, according to him, were involved.

The Bahamas Securities Commission, Financial Intelligence Unit, and the police’s Financial Crimes Unit, according to Pinder, would “continue to investigate the facts and circumstances surrounding FTX’s insolvency issue and any potential violations of Bahamian law.”

Additionally, Pinder defended the regulatory structure of the Bahamas and claimed that the Securities Commission had responded swiftly “because of the robustness of the statutory framework.”

The day before the start of the US bankruptcy case, the Bahamas’ securities regulators canceled FTX Digital’s license and started the involuntary liquidation process.

Pinder stressed that the Bahamas Securities Commission has responded with “extraordinary” speed, adding that it would be disgusting to use Bahama as a shelter to bury all of FTX’s misdeeds. Doing so would also be a significant misrepresentation of the truth.

Sam Bankman-Fried, 30, launched FTX in 2019 and used the cryptocurrency surge to increase his net worth, which Forbes estimated to be $26.5 billion a year ago. On the same day FTX filed for bankruptcy, Bankman-Fried gave notice of his resignation as CEO.

According to two persons familiar with the situation cited by experts, Bankman-secret Fried’s transfer of $10 billion in FTX customer cash to his private trading company, Alameda Research, was the cause of the liquidity crisis.

FTX’s handling of customer cash is the subject of an investigation conducted by the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, which veteran financial fraud prosecutor Damian Williams is overseeing, experts were informed by a source familiar with the case. Also starting investigations were the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The failure of FTX comes after a spate of significant companies, including Voyager Digital and Celsius Network, have collapsed, raising concerns about the future of the cryptocurrency industry among some notable international investors.