Twitter Reacts With Glee, Speculation On Timing Of Sam Bankman-Fried's Arrest

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of the FTX FTT/USD exchange, was arrested by the Royal Bahamas Police Force on Monday after prosecutors in the U.S. filed charges.

In a statement on Monday, Prime Minister of The Bahamas Philip Davis said: “The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law.”

By all appearances, Bankman-Fried was escorted peacefully from his home.

SBF in handcuffs

"Right to jail. Right away ..."#SBF #sbfarrested #SBFarrest pic.twitter.com/i2YUq2kO4A

— Kevin Svenson (@KevinSvenson_) December 13, 2022

Bankman-Fried had been scheduled to testify virtually before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday, within hours of his arrest, so it has generated complaints on Twitter that the timing was convenient, presuming that there was something in Bankman-Fried’s testimony that was being silenced by his arrest.

They just said that #SBF got arrested to save his ass. You can't make this up. #FTX #SBFarrest pic.twitter.com/UVlMpmpZom

— Dustin Lee | Crypto Hustler 101 (@imcryptohustler) December 13, 2022

However, Forbes acquired a copy of his testimony, which was published in full.

BREAKING: Forbes obtained a draft of the testimony @SBF_FTX was scheduled to present before Congress tomorrow, and has published it in full. Just hours ago, Bankman-Fried was arrested and taken into custody by Bahamian authorities. From @Steven_Ehrlich: https://t.co/9xbCmH95dW

— sarah emerson (@SarahNEmerson) December 13, 2022

The arrest seems to have cut short Bankman-Fried’s month-long media blitz, which one Twitter user said didn't help convince the public of his innocence.

After spending a month giving vague, stammering, bizarre interviews that convinced few people of his innocence or good intentions, SBF has been arrested and charged with some rather serious crimes. Here's me, on the dramatic end of a month of free-fall: https://t.co/64T9xmNp85

— Nitish Pahwa (@pahwa_nitish) December 14, 2022

Just hours before his arrest, Bankman-Fried was asked during an interview with Forbes what he felt his legacy would be. He responded, saying, “I hope it's anything, but what happened last month. I worry that that's what it will be, and I think that is what it will be if I don't do something to make it up.”

Cover image: Source WikiCommons - Sam Bankman-Fried in an interview during the Bitcoin 2021 conference.