The Tribune

By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@trinunemedia.net

The Prime Minister's press secretary has maintained that The Bahamas' financial services reputation remains intact after FTX's founder was last week found guilty of defrauding clients of up to $10bn.

Keishla Adderley, speaking at the Prime Minister’s Office weekly briefing, said Sam Bankman-Fried had been "held accountable" for his crimes in accordance with US laws and The Bahamas will continue to collaborate with international authorities when dealing with suspected wrongdoers within its borders.

She added: “The United States, like The Bahamas, is a country of laws. Mr Bankman-Fried faced a trial based on the crimes that he's now been convicted of. The Bahamas has, from time to time, collaborated and co-operated with the United States when it comes to suspects who, where, you know, the interests of the United States and The Bahamas cross paths, and will continue to do that.

“But he's been held accountable for the crimes that he's been convicted of in accordance with the laws of the United States.” Evidence and testimony that emerged during Mr Bankman-Fried's trial forced the Prime Minister and his officials that the FTX founder and his crypto exchange provided Philip Davis KC with "courtside seats" and free hospitality at a Miami Heat basketball game.

They did admit, though, that Mr Davis contacted Mr Bankman-Fried to arrange a meeting between the latter and his son, Christopher, who was seeking advice on a non-fungible token (NFT) project he was developing. While the meeting with the Prime Minister's son took place, Mr Davis via his officials said nothing untoward or improper happened, and no money changed hands.

"The Office has responded to that and I continue to stand on that statement. I don't have anything further," Ms Adderley said. She added that, using the Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges (DARE) Act, the Securities Commission was able to act "swiftly" and appoint a provisional liquidator for FTX Digital Markets - thus becoming the first jurisdiction to act when the crypto exchange's troubles emerged.

"I will say that, fortunately, and because the administration was prudent, they were laws in place to guide the financial services industry and the FinTech industry, which safeguarded us at the end of the day," Ms Adderley said.

“So the administration is happy that those things were in place. We were able to jump into action very swiftly with the liquidation process so that the image of the financial services industry could remain whole." When pressed if the administration believes that the image of the financial services industry in The Bahamas remains intact after the FTX debacle, Ms Adderley simply responded "yes".