What to know about the ‘harsh’ Bahamas prison where Bankman-Fried is jailed
After his arrest in the Bahamas this week, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is being held in a facility known for its harsh conditions.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force detained Bankman-Fried on Monday after he was charged in the U.S. on several counts, including the misappropriation of funds and violations of campaign finance laws.
At the time of his arrest, Bankman-Fried, 30, was living in a luxury penthouse in Nassau, where FTX was also established and run.
U.S. authorities are expected to seek the extradition of the former head of FTX. Meanwhile, the figure behind the most high-profile cryptocurrency collapse in history is being held inside a cell at a Nassau correctional facility commonly called Fox Hill Prison.
A 2021 U.S. State Department report faulted Fox Hill for overcrowding, poor sanitation and nutrition, and inadequate medical care.
The report said inmates “removed human waste by bucket” and that the cells were infested with rats, maggots and insects. Some inmates developed bedsores after sleeping on the ground of the cells.
A 2019 report from the Inter-American Development Bank, a financial institution serving Latin America and the Caribbean, said the facility is deficient and cited calls to build an entirely new prison for the Bahamas.
Bahamian Commissioner of Correctional Services Doan Cleare told local outlet Eyewitness News that Bankman-Fried is being held in a sick bay with five other people.
The ex-billionaire not being treated any different than other inmates, although he is a vegetarian and struggles with mental illnesses, which he is being assisted for, according to Eyewitness News.
Cleare also explained to Reuters that after the State Department report, officials renovated Fox Hill and built new cells.
A video shared by Fox News from local newspaper the Nassau Guardian showed several inmates in November packed into small, dark cells. Other parts of the facility where inmates were not seen showed cleaner conditions.
Bankman-Fried, who was denied a $250,000 bail on Tuesday, is expected to fight his extradition.
U.S. prosecutors accuse the FTX founder of using his crypto investment firm Alameda as “his personal piggy bank to buy luxury condominiums, support political campaigns, and make private investments.”
He is also accused of violating a slew of campaign finance laws, including giving a minimum of $25,000 to political candidates and committees in the names of other persons.
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