Embattled crypto trader and co-founder of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried was released on $250 million bail a day after accepting to be extradited from the Bahamas.
The 30-year-old crypto mogul faces eight criminal charges, including wire fraud, money laundering and campaign finance violations.
US magistrate judge Gabriel Gorenstein made the ruling on Thursday in federal court in Manhattan said Bankman-Fried would have to remain under strict supervision at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California.
He was flown back to New York City from the Bahamas on Wednesday and was placed under FBI custody after he dropped his right to challenge the US government’s extradition request.
As per the bail conditions, Bankman-Fried will be monitored via an ankle bracelet, and has been asked to surrender his passport and agree to mental health and substance abuse treatment.
The magistrate warned the crypto trader that an arrest warrant would be issued against him if he violates any of the conditions and that his parents would be liable $250m for the bond, reports AFP news agency.
After the judge asked Bankman-Fried if he understood the bail requirements, he replied, “Yes, I do.”
FTX and its sister trading house Alameda Research went bankrupt last month, dissolving a virtual trading business that at one point had been valued by the market at $32 billion.
It has been alleged that Bankman-Fried cheated investors and misappropriated funds that belonged to FTX and Alameda Research customers.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission estimates that $8 billion were misappropriated from FTX customer accounts.
FTX, founded in 2019, rose spectacularly to become a leading player in the crypto world. Bankman-Fried was once considered the future Warren Buffet.
But it all came crashing down in November after a media report claimed that Alameda’s balance sheet was heavily built on a token created by FTX with no independent value, exposing Bankman-Fried’s companies as being dangerously interlinked.
The 30-year-old billionaire was arrested at his Nassau apartment on December 12 at the request of federal prosecutors in New York.
(With inputs from agencies)
