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WEDNESDAY, MAY 10, 2023
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FTX chief: US charges violate Bahamas treaty By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net SAM Bankman-Fried yesterday sought to dismiss multiple fraud, bribery and corruptionrelated charges stemming from FTX’s collapse on the grounds that the US has violated The Bahamas’ Extradition Act and treaty. The embattled crypto currency exchange founder, in numerous legal filings with the southern
SAM BANKMAN-FRIED
• SBF demands dismissal for breaching Bahamian extradition law • Wants campaign finance, corruption and bank fraud thrown out • Never mentioned in ‘surrender warrant’ signed by Fred Mitchell
$5.74 New York federal court, argued that charges involving breaches of US campaign finance laws and the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), plus bank fraud and operating an unlicensed money transmission business, should be struck out because they run afoul of key provisions in The Bahamas-US extradition treaty. Mr Bankman-Fried and his legal advisers, in alleging that the federal authorities are doing an “end-run” around the treaty, are focusing their arguments on its Article 14. Known as the “rule of specialty”, this stipulates that someone being extradited from The Bahamas “may only be detained, tried or punished” in the US “for the offence for which extradition was granted”, while setting out other criteria. They are arguing that this article has been breached by the US authorities adding the charges FTX’s founder now
FTX’s Bahamian liquidators yesterday accused their US adversaries of employing “underhanded” tactics to seize control of all the crypto exchange’s clients and assets - including those that fall under their winding-up process. Brian Simms KC, the Lennox Paton senior partner, and the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) accounting duo of Kevin Cambridge and Peter Greaves, are demanding that the Delaware Bankruptcy Court dismiss the March 20 lawsuit filed by the exchange’s US chief, John Ray, on the grounds
• Argue lawsuit ‘void’ and must be dismissed • Bahamas court best to hear case if proceeds • Blast Ray over his ‘inflammatory approach’ that it is “void” and cannot proceed. And, if it is allowed to move ahead, the provisional liquidation trio are arguing that the action - and the questions that it raises - should be determined before the
Bahamian courts and not Delaware as the battle for control of FTX’s fate intensifies between themselves and Mr Ray. Responding to the move by the FTX US chief to totally deny them access to any assets caught in the crypto exchange’s multi-billion dollar collapse, Mr Simms and his PwC colleagues accused Mr Ray and his team of “avoiding any meaningful discussion” on how critical issues facing both sides can be resolved without conflict. This, they added, was why they had obtained the Supreme Court’s authorisation to approach the Delaware Bankruptcy Court for a determination on whether the automatic
DAVINIA BAIN
A BAHAMIAN digital assets entrepreneur says the Securities Commission’s decision to ban crypto currency mining in the revised Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges (DARE) Bill warrants further explanation. Davinia Bain, Crypto Isle’s co-founder, told
Tribune Business that banning crypto-mining “definitely begs an explanation” from the regulator as the company continues to review the recentlyreleased proposed amendments to the existing DARE Act. She said: “There are people in The Bahamas mining not as an ancillary business or ancillary support to their regular business, which the Act speaks to, because there
worldwide asset freeze imposed by the Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings applies to FTX Digital Markets’ liquidation in The Bahamas and, if it does, for this to be lifted. The Bahamian trio have consistently argued that key questions yet to be answered are the identities of FTX Digital Markets’ customers, and who was migrated to it from the crypto exchange’s international platform prior to the November 2022 collapse, and whether - and which
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are people that have bought miners and have been earning crypto in one way or the next, and it is a great way for Bahamians to engage in the industry.” A foundation for obtaining crypto currency is mining via the Internet. It was the primary mechanism for obtaining crypto currencies prior to many of the respective coins
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GB Power solar rates ‘30% below Caribbean’ By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net GRAND Bahama Power Company says the solar power rate it has obtained from independent energy providers (IPPs) is “30 percent less than what you see elsewhere” in the Caribbean. Dave McGregor, Caribbean chief operating officer for Emera, GB Power’s 100 percent owner, told Tribune Business that the nine cents per kilowatt hour (kWH) rate agreed
with both solar IPPs is also “significantly cheaper” than the 13 cents per kWH that the utility spends purchasing excess energy from businesses and residences with roof-top systems. Describing the latest agreement with Bahamas Solar and Renewables, a subsidiary of BISX-listed FOCOL Holdings, as “a very good deal for the customer”, he added that the provider’s five mega watt (MW) plant when fully operational will give Grand Bahama a combined 14 MW of solar.
The Bahamas Solar and Renewables site will join the two locations, one for 4.5 MW and the other for 5 MW, already being developed by Lucayas Solar Power. “It’s 14 MW altogether,” Mr McGregor confirmed to this newspaper. “All three plants are at different places, different sites. They’re all about the same size - a 20-ace site. The locations were selected by a combination of land that didn’t flood during Dorian and we look to have them spread out so if
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BRIAN SIMMS KC
Crypto mining ban ‘begs explanation’ By YOURI KEMP Tribune Business Reporter ykemp@tribunemedia.net
wants dismissed AFTER he was extradited from The Bahamas in late 2022. Mr Bankman-Fried’s “warrant of surrender”, signed by Fred Mitchell, minister of foreign affairs and the public service, on December 21, 2022, makes no mention of any FCPA or US campaign finance law violations. The warrant, which was among the documents filed with the New York court, stipulated that as far as the Bahamian authorities were concerned Mr Bankman-Fried was being extradited to face two counts of mail fraud; two counts of conspiring to falsify accounts; two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud by false pretences; and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Mr Mitchell signed it within hours of the FTX founder waiving his rights to contest his extradition, and consenting to his transfer to US custody, a sign
Fears that Royal Caribbean ‘setting tone’ on PI project
Bahamas liquidators slam US FTX chief’s ‘underhand’ tactics By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
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there is some cloud cover they don’t all lose production at the same time. We have a little geographic diversification.” He added that, together, the three solar plants will each supply about 3 percent of GB Power’s energy needs over the course of a year, taking their collective contribution to around 10 percent. “It’s a start,” Mr McGregor said. “All three are saying they should be complete within a year. I think Lucayas is a couple
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• Cruise line, not DEPP, announces public consultation details By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net ENVIRONMENTAL advocates yesterday voiced concern that Royal Caribbean is “setting the tone and beating the drum” after the cruise line - not the Government - unveiled the date and time for the public meeting on its Paradise Island project. Eric Carey, the former Bahamas National Trust (BNT) executive director, who is to review the cruise line’s environmental submissions for Atlantis, told Tribune Business he was “somewhat taken aback” that details on the upcoming Royal Beach Club consultation had come from Royal Caribbean and not the Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP).
ERIC CAREY The cruise giant, in a statement yesterday, said the public consultation will be held “in conjunction” with the DEPP on June 8 at 6.30pm. “The consultation will provide the community the opportunity to ask questions regarding [the] 17-acre Royal Beach Club at Paradise Island as part of the process defined by DEPP,” Royal
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