Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested. That is what occurs subsequent.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s arrest within the Bahamas on Monday marks the start of a brand new chapter within the FTX saga, one that may pit the previous crypto billionaire towards the Southern District of New York.

The indictment is anticipated to stay sealed till Tuesday morning. U.S. prosecutors have not commented, and neither the Legal professional Normal of the Bahamas nor the Royal Bahamas Police Pressure would affirm the character of the costs towards Bankman-Fried.

The New York Times reported that the costs towards Bankman-Fried included conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, in addition to standalone fees of securities fraud, wire fraud and cash laundering.

The SEC has initiated a separate set of fees towards Bankman-Fried, referring to “violations of our securities legal guidelines, which shall be filed publicly tomorrow within the Southern District of New York,” enforcement director Gurbir Grewal stated in an announcement on Monday.

A spokesperson for the SEC declined additional remark.

The costs might land Bankman-Fried in jail for many years, authorized specialists advised CNBC. However earlier than he ever serves time, U.S. prosecutors should safe an extradition from the Bahamas again to New York.

An effort to extradite

“It’s inconceivable to me that the Justice Division would have charged this case except they had been assured that they might extradite him,” Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, advised CNBC.

Mariotti anticipates an extradition will take weeks to finish.

“The assertion by the Bahamian authorities means that they’ll cooperate,” Mariotti stated.

The U.S. and the Bahamas have had an extradition treaty in place since 1931, with the newest iteration codified in 1990. As a result of Bankman-Fried hasn’t been convicted within the Bahamas but, U.S. prosecutors needed to safe an arrest warrant and supply adequate proof to the Bahamians that he had dedicated a criminal offense.

Extradition is step one in a course of that would take years to complete. Given the magnitude of Bankman-Fried’s alleged crimes, prosecutors and regulators shall be pursuing concurrent circumstances around the globe.

A trial within the U.S. “might not happen for years,” Mariotti stated.

“The extra that they cost, the larger that the case is, the extra time they’ll have to get in movement,” he stated. “I might say late 2023 is the earliest a trial would happen.”

Prosecutors might argue that FTX breached its fiduciary responsibility by allegedly utilizing buyer funds to artificially stabilize the worth of the corporate’s self-issued FTT coin, Mariotti stated.

Intent can be a think about fraud circumstances, and Bankman-Fried insists he did not learn about doubtlessly fraudulent exercise. He advised CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on the New York Occasions DealBook convention that he “did not knowingly commingle funds.”

“I did not ever attempt to commit fraud,” Bankman-Fried stated.

In ready testimony for the Home Monetary Companies committee, new FTX CEO John Ray confirmed that commingling of funds had occurred between FTX and Alameda Analysis, Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund.

Different authorized hassle

Past the prison fees set to be unveiled Tuesday morning, Bankman-Fried can be dealing with civil motion, which may very well be introduced by the SEC, the Commodity Futures Buying and selling Fee and state banking and securities regulators, stated Richard Levin, who chairs the fintech and regulation apply at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough.

The CFTC and lawmakers have begun their probes into FTX and Bankman-Fried, who advised Sorkin he was right down to his final $100,000.

Shortly after Bankman-Fried’s arrest, the SEC appeared to substantiate that the company would pursue a separate set of fees from the prison indictment.

Lawmakers additionally expressed their satisfaction at Bankman-Fried’s arrest. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who chairs the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and City Affairs, applauded each the Justice Division and Bahamian regulation enforcement “for holding Sam Bankman-Fried accountable.”

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the Home Monetary Companies Committee, echoed that sentiment, however expressed disappointment that Bankman-Fried was arrested earlier than his Home testimony, which was scheduled for Tuesday.

“I’m stunned to listen to that Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested within the Bahamas on the path of america Legal professional,” Waters stated in an announcement.

“[The] American public deserves to listen to instantly from Mr. Bankman-Fried in regards to the actions that’ve harmed over a million folks,” Waters continued.

Bankman-Fried had additionally been invited to look earlier than the Senate previous to his arrest. That listening to will happen on Wednesday.

It is unclear whether or not the SEC or the CFTC will take the lead in securing civil damages.

“The query of who can be taking the lead there, whether or not or not it’s the SEC or CFTC, is dependent upon whether or not or not there have been securities concerned,” Mariotti advised CNBC.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who met with Bankman-Fried and FTX executives earlier this yr, has said publicly that “many crypto tokens are securities,” which might make his company the first regulator.

However many exchanges, together with FTX, have crypto derivatives platforms that promote monetary merchandise like futures and choices, which fall underneath the CFTC’s jurisdiction.

“For promoting unregistered securities with out a registration or an exemption, you would be trying on the Securities Alternate Fee suing for disgorgement — financial penalties,” stated Levin, who’s represented shoppers earlier than each businesses.

Buyers who’ve misplaced their financial savings aren’t ready. Class-action fits have already been filed towards FTX endorsers, like comic Larry David and soccer celebrity Tom Brady. One swimsuit excoriated the celebrities for allegedly failing to do their “due diligence previous to advertising [FTX] to the general public.”

FTX’s business friends are additionally submitting swimsuit towards Bankman-Fried. Failed lender BlockFi sued Bankman-Fried in November, looking for unnamed collateral that the FTX founder offered for the crypto lending agency.

FTX and Bankman-Fried had beforehand rescued BlockFi from insolvency in June, however when FTX failed, BlockFi was left with an analogous liquidity downside and filed for bankruptcy protection in New Jersey.

Bankman-Fried has additionally been sued in Florida and California federal courts. He faces class-action fits in each states over “one of many nice frauds in historical past,” a California courtroom submitting said.

The biggest securities class-action settlement was for $7.2 billion within the Enron accounting fraud case, based on Stanford research. The opportunity of a multibillion-dollar settlement would come on high of civil and prison fines that Bankman-Fried faces.

A life behind bars

If the DOJ had been capable of safe a conviction, a choose would look to a number of elements to find out how lengthy to condemn him.

Based mostly on the dimensions of the losses, if Bankman-Fried is convicted on any of the fraud fees, he may very well be behind bars for years — doubtlessly for the remainder of his life, stated Braden Perry, a associate at Kennyhertz Perry who advises shoppers on anti-money laundering, compliance and enforcement points.

However the size of any potential sentence is difficult to foretell, stated Perry, who was beforehand a senior trial lawyer for the CFTC, FTX’s solely official U.S. regulator.

Federal sentencing pointers comply with a numeric system to find out the utmost and minimal allowable sentence, however the system might be esoteric. The dimensions, or “offense degree,” begins at one, and maxes out at 43.

A wire fraud conviction charges as a seven on the dimensions, with a minimal sentence starting from zero to 6 months.

However mitigating elements and enhancements can alter that ranking, Perry advised CNBC.

“The greenback worth of loss performs a major position. Underneath the rules, any loss above $550 million provides 30 factors to the bottom degree offense,” Perry stated. FTX prospects have misplaced billions of {dollars}.

“Having 25 or extra victims provides 6 factors, [and] use of sure regulated markets provides 4,” Perry stated.

Which means Bankman-Fried may very well be dealing with life in federal jail, with out the potential of supervised launch, if he is convicted on simply one of many offenses that prosecutors will reportedly pursue.

If convicted, his sentence may very well be decreased by mitigating elements.

“In apply, many white-collar defendants are sentenced to lesser sentences than what the rules dictate,” Perry stated. Even in massive fraud circumstances, that 30-point enhancement beforehand talked about might be thought-about punitive.

By means of comparability, Stefan Qin, the Australian founding father of a $90 million cryptocurrency hedge fund, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after he pleaded responsible to at least one depend of securities fraud.

Roger Nils-Jonas Karlsson, a Swedish nationwide accused by america of defrauding over 3,500 victims of more than $16 million, was sentenced to 15 years in jail for securities fraud, wire fraud and cash laundering.