Don’t Blame the Bahamas for FTX’s Implosion, Foreign Minister Says

• FTX attorneys want to deny liquidators access to firm documents, declaring the Bahamian federal government could use it to swipe funds absent from FTX.
• But it is not the fault of the Bahamas that FTX is embroiled in its fiscal difficulties, according to overseas minister Fred Mitchell.
• “Every working day there is some accusation staying hurled at The Bahamas, but it is obvious the jurisdiction of the alleged fraud is not the explanation the fraud transpired,” Mitchell stated.

Never blame the Bahamas for FTX’s implosion, the nation’s foreign minister said on Friday, immediately after lawyers from the disgraced crypto trade accused the Bahamian government of currently being complicit with Sam Bankman-Fried.

Court-appointed liquidators for FTX’s Bahamas-centered business requested for vital documents within the crypto exchange, together with access to corporation accounts and information. But FTX’s attorneys stood in opposition to that ask for in US personal bankruptcy court docket on Wednesday, professing that the Bahamian governing administration could use the facts to steal property from the corporation. 

John Ray III, who has stepped in as CEO for the embattled crypto exchange, claimed at a congressional hearing this week that the Bahamian governing administration has currently swiped $100 million from FTX as the business was declaring bankruptcy. He claimed officials were colluding with Sam Bankman-Fried to return income again to FTX account holders.

“Not like the Chapter 11 approach, there is no transparency in the procedure in the Bahamas … We have continuously questioned them for clarity on what they’ve been executing, and we’ve been shot down on that,” Ray said at the listening to.

The Securities Commission of the Bahamas has disputed people claims, and Bahamas international minister Fred Mitchell denounced the accusations in a voice recording distributed by means of WhatsApp on Friday.

“Every single day there is some accusation becoming hurled at The Bahamas, but it is crystal clear the jurisdiction of the alleged fraud is not the cause the fraud occurred,” Mitchell said, for every Reuters‘ report. He added that the predicament was a “blame game” commenced by FTX’s authorized group.

“We in the Bahamas can ask the issue: How did the mastermind of FTX get on the entrance website page of Forbes magazine, a US-based mostly journal? Which nation’s push termed him the upcoming Warren Buffett? Plainly that was the United States,” he extra.

Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested on many prices this week, including fraud, funds laundering, and conspiracy following the collapse of his crypto trade lose mild on glaring accounting scandals. He is now becoming held at a Bahamian prison as liquidators continue on to probe FTX’s finances.