Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested following FTX collapse. Here’s what happens next
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Sam Bankman-Fried’s arrest in the Bahamas on Monday marks the beginning of a new chapter in the FTX saga, one that will pit the former crypto billionaire against the Southern District of New York.
The indictment is expected to remain sealed until Tuesday morning. U.S. prosecutors haven’t commented, and neither the Attorney General of the Bahamas nor the Royal Bahamas Police Force would confirm the nature of the charges against Bankman-Fried.
The New York Times reported that the charges against Bankman-Fried included conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, as well as standalone charges of securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
The SEC has initiated a separate set of charges against Bankman-Fried, relating to “violations of our securities laws, which will be filed publicly tomorrow in the Southern District of New York,” enforcement director Gurbir Grewal said in a statement on Monday.
A spokesperson for the SEC declined further comment.
The charges could land Bankman-Fried in prison for decades, legal experts told CNBC. But before he ever serves time, U.S. prosecutors have to secure an extradition from the Bahamas back to New York.
An effort to extradite
“It is inconceivable to me that the Justice Department would have charged this case unless they were confident that they could extradite him,” Renato Mariotti, a former federal prosecutor, told CNBC.
Mariotti anticipates an extradition will take weeks to complete.
“The statement by the Bahamian government suggests that they’re going to cooperate,” Mariotti said.
The U.S. and the Bahamas have had an extradition treaty in place since 1931, with the most recent iteration codified in 1990. Because Bankman-Fried hasn’t been convicted in the Bahamas yet, U.S. prosecutors had to secure an arrest warrant and provide sufficient evidence to the Bahamians that he had committed a crime.
Extradition is the first step in a process that could take years to finish. Given the magnitude of Bankman-Fried’s alleged crimes, prosecutors and regulators will be pursuing concurrent cases around the world.
A trial in the U.S. “may not occur for years,” Mariotti said.
“The more that they charge, the bigger that the case is, the more time they’re going to need to get in motion,” he said. “I would say late 2023 is the earliest a trial would occur.”
Prosecutors could argue that FTX breached its fiduciary duty by allegedly using customer funds to artificially stabilize the price of the company’s self-issued FTT coin, Mariotti said.
Intent is also a factor in fraud cases, and Bankman-Fried insists he didn’t know about potentially fraudulent activity. He told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin at the New York Times DealBook conference that he “didn’t knowingly commingle funds.”
“I didn’t ever try to commit fraud,” Bankman-Fried said.
In prepared testimony for the House Financial Services committee, new FTX CEO John Ray confirmed that commingling of funds had occurred between FTX and Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund.
Other legal trouble
Beyond the criminal charges set to be unveiled Tuesday morning, Bankman-Fried is also facing civil action, which could be brought by the SEC, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and state banking and securities regulators, said Richard Levin, who chairs the fintech and regulation practice at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough.
The CFTC and lawmakers have begun their probes into FTX and Bankman-Fried, who told Sorkin he was down to his last $100,000.
Shortly after Bankman-Fried’s arrest, the SEC appeared to confirm that the agency would pursue a separate set of charges from the criminal indictment.
Lawmakers also expressed their satisfaction at Bankman-Fried’s arrest. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), who chairs the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, applauded both the Justice Department and Bahamian law enforcement “for holding Sam Bankman-Fried accountable.”
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, echoed that sentiment, but expressed disappointment that Bankman-Fried was arrested before his House testimony, which was scheduled for Tuesday.
“I am surprised to hear that Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas at the direction of the United States Attorney,” Waters said in a statement.
“[The] American public deserves to hear directly from Mr. Bankman-Fried about the actions that’ve harmed over one million people,” Waters continued.
Bankman-Fried had also been invited to appear before the Senate prior to his arrest. That hearing will occur on Wednesday.
It’s unclear whether the SEC or the CFTC will take the lead in securing civil damages.
“The question of who would be taking the lead there, whether it be the SEC or CFTC, depends on whether or not there were securities involved,” Mariotti told CNBC.
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who met with Bankman-Fried and FTX executives earlier this year, has said publicly that “many crypto tokens are securities,” which would make his agency the primary regulator.
But many exchanges, including FTX, have crypto derivatives platforms that sell financial products like futures and options, which fall under the CFTC’s jurisdiction.
“For selling unregistered securities without a registration or an exemption, you could be looking at the Securities Exchange Commission suing for disgorgement — monetary penalties,” said Levin, who’s represented clients before both agencies.
Investors who have lost their savings aren’t waiting. Class-action suits have already been filed against FTX endorsers, like comedian Larry David and football superstar Tom Brady. One suit excoriated the celebrities for allegedly failing to do their “due diligence prior to marketing [FTX] to the public.”
FTX’s industry peers are also filing suit against Bankman-Fried. Failed lender BlockFi sued Bankman-Fried in November, seeking unnamed collateral that the FTX founder provided for the crypto lending firm.
FTX and Bankman-Fried had previously rescued BlockFi from insolvency in June, but when FTX failed, BlockFi was left with a similar liquidity problem and filed for bankruptcy protection in New Jersey.
Bankman-Fried has also been sued in Florida and California federal courts. He faces class-action suits in both states over “one of the great frauds in history,” a California court filing said.
The largest securities class-action settlement was for $7.2 billion in the Enron accounting fraud case, according to Stanford research. The possibility of a multibillion-dollar settlement would come on top of civil and criminal fines that Bankman-Fried faces.
A life behind bars
If the DOJ were able to secure a conviction, a judge would look to several factors to determine how long to sentence him.
Based on the size of the losses, if Bankman-Fried is convicted on any of the fraud charges, he could be behind bars for years — potentially for the rest of his life, said Braden Perry, a partner at Kennyhertz Perry who advises clients on anti-money laundering, compliance and enforcement issues.
But the length of any potential sentence is hard to predict, said Perry, who was previously a senior trial lawyer for the CFTC, FTX’s only official U.S. regulator.
Federal sentencing guidelines follow a numeric system to determine the maximum and minimum allowable sentence, but the system can be esoteric. The scale, or “offense level,” starts at one, and maxes out at 43.
A wire fraud conviction rates as a seven on the scale, with a minimum sentence ranging from zero to six months.
But mitigating factors and enhancements can alter that rating, Perry told CNBC.
“The dollar value of loss plays a significant role. Under the guidelines, any loss above $550 million adds 30 points to the base level offense,” Perry said. FTX customers have lost billions of dollars.
“Having 25 or more victims adds 6 points, [and] use of certain regulated markets adds 4,” Perry said.
That means Bankman-Fried could be facing life in federal prison, without the possibility of supervised release, if he’s convicted on just one of the offenses that prosecutors will reportedly pursue.
If convicted, his sentence could be reduced by mitigating factors.
“In practice, many white-collar defendants are sentenced to lesser sentences than what the guidelines dictate,” Perry said. Even in large fraud cases, that 30-point enhancement previously mentioned can be considered punitive.
By way of comparison, Stefan Qin, the Australian founder of a $90 million cryptocurrency hedge fund, was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after he pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud.
Roger Nils-Jonas Karlsson, a Swedish national accused by the United States of defrauding over 3,500 victims of more than $16 million, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.
Toyota’s new electric SUV boasts significantly more range, a revamped interior and exterior, and an NACS port, allowing you to recharge at Tesla Superchargers. Despite the upgrades, the 2026 Toyota bZ now starts at under $35,000.
2026 Toyota bZ electric SUV prices and range by trim
The bZ4X, Toyota’s first electric SUV, has been killed off and replaced with the upgraded bZ. Toyota improved it in almost every way possible for the 2026 model year, adding driving range, more features, a fresh new look, and more.
Even with the upgrades, the new and improved Toyota bZ is cheaper than the outgoing bZ4X. Toyota revealed prices for the 2026 bZ electric SUV will start at $34,900, or $2,170 less than the outgoing model.
That’s for the base XLE FWD trim with a 57.7 kWh battery, good for 236 miles range. Upgrading to the extended-range bZ XLE FWD Plus will cost $37,900, but a larger 74.7 kWh battery provides up to 314 miles of driving range, representing a 25% improvement over the 2025 model year.
For AWD, prices start at $39,900. Thanks to new SIC semiconductors, AWD models now pack up to 388 hp, 50% more than the outgoing electric SUV.
The range-topping 2026 Toyota bZ Limited FWD trim starts at $43,300, while upgrading to AWD will cost you an extra $2,000.
| 2026 Toyota bZ trim | Battery | Range | Starting Price* |
| XLE FWD | 57.7 kWh | 236 miles | $34,900 |
| XLE FWD Plus | 74.7 kWh | 314 miles | $37,900 |
| XLE AWD | 74.7 kWh | 288 miles | $39,900 |
| Limited FWD | 74.7 kWh | 299 miles | $43,300 |
| Limited AWD | 74.7 kWh | 278 miles | $45,300 |
Toyota’s new electric SUV now features a built-in NACS port, allowing you to recharge at Tesla Superchargers. With a new thermal management system and battery preconditioning, the bZ can charge from 10% to 80% in about 30 minutes.
The new electric SUV features a fresh look both inside and out. Like the latest Camry and Crown, the bZ features Toyota’s new “hammerhead front end design” with an LED light bar across the front.
Inside, the 2026 bZ gets a redesigned center console and a larger 14″ Toyota Audio Multimedia touchscreen, two wireless phone chargers, and an improved dashboard.
Toyota said dropping the “4X” at the end of the name was to simplify things for buyers. The 2026 models are expected to begin arriving at dealerships in the second half of 2025, which could be any day now.
With the 2026 model year arriving soon, Toyota is offering clearance prices on the 2025 bZ4X with up to $12,000 off in lease cash. You can use our link to find Toyota bZ4X models in your area (trusted affiliate link).
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Amid the alliterative, anti-EV “messy middle” rhetoric and the Trump Administration EPA’s ongoing regulatory rollbacks, it’s been tough for fleet and equipment buyers with 8-12 year replacement cycles to make sense of where things are headed – but a new partnership between CASE Construction Equipment and ZQUIP could put those concerns to rest (and make a trip to the CASE dealer a no-brainer).
iVT reports that CASE Construction Equipment has formalized a new partnership with ZQUIP to deliver heavy equipment assets featuring ZQUIP’s swappable energy modules – self-contained power units that could be batteries, fuel cells, or diesel engines. The technology aims to eliminate range and regulation anxiety while maximizing a job site’s energy efficiency and meeting the complex demands of modern construction projects with unprecedented flexibility. And, crucially, at a lower cost than either a mixed BEV/ICE fleet.
“A fully integrated battery system is extremely expensive upfront,” explains Chris LaFleur, managing director of ZQUIP. “This system allows (customers) to buy essentially a bare tool, at a much lower price point.”
For the uninitiated, a “bare tool” is effectively an equipment asset like an excavator or wheel loader that arrives on a job site without a power plant. It’s not electric, it’s not diesel, it’s not natgas – it’s just the machine, with a flat “plate” more or less where you’d expect an engine to be.
Once you’re ready to put that tool to work, a ZQUIP Energy Module gets dropped in, cordless-tool style, and it’s ready to go. That Energy Module could be a contained battery-electric powertrain, or it could be a generator, depending on the energy needs, duty cycles, or regulations (both noise and emissions) that are in play at that specific site.
And, like their hand-held Ryobi cousins, you don’t need as many ZQUIP Energy Modules as you need bare tools. In practice, that means you’re not tying up hundreds of kWh of battery capacity in idle machines.
“The customer decides how he wants to use it,” says Eric Zeiser, product portfolio manager at CNH Industrial, CASE’ parent company. “If he wants to keep his cost low in the beginning, he can buy just one energy module. He could buy the simplest module available to keep his initial purchase price down. And then, in the future, if in six months he realizes his job sites are bigger, he needs more power, he buys the second and third module as he needs to.”
What’s more, different sized equipment assets have different energy needs – and bigger equipment means bigger possibilities. So, while a CASE WX155ZQ wheeled excavator accommodates two energy modules, a CX210ZQ tracked excavator supports three. “On the three-bay CX210 you can have an LFP battery, an NMC battery and a diesel hybrid Energy Module, all together working at the same time,” says LaFleur.
More energy needs = more options
Batteries when it makes sense, ICE when you need it. But, even with an ICE generating the power, the machine is still electric.
“The excavators are always electric,” says Rob Bauer, engineering manager for ZQUIP. “The question is, where does the energy come from? In an optimum case, when you have a normal workday, you’re pulling all the energy out of a battery, and that’s a great day. Everything’s perfect. On the other hand, if you’re in a difficult site, or you have to work a lot of hours in a day, we give you options.”
That’s not just options for the operator, it’s options for the OEM as well.
Growing the CASE EV family
For CASE Construction Equipment and its parent company, CNH Industrial, the ZQUIP partnership represents a strategic expansion, enabling it to grow the brand’s beyond existing compact electric offerings without sacrificing round-the-clock capability or requiring a utility-scale supply of new battery materials.
“CNH has always been a leader in sustainability, and we have a full range of compact electric vehicles, but we didn’t have a solution for heavy machinery until now,” says Egidio Galano, director of construction equipment product management for Europe at CNH Industrial.
The new partnership builds on an established relationship between the companies dating back to 2019. CASE’ 580EV electric backhoe loader, released in 2024 as the industry’s first production-ready purpose-built electric backhoe, utilizes the TerraTech platform from Moog (ZQUIP’s parent) for electric motion control and served as ZQUIP’s initial tester.
Since then, the project has continued to evolve, with the potential to grow to even bigger, more capable heavy machinery offerings. No word yet on pricing.
SOURCES | IMAGES: ZQUIP, via iVT.
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Hyundai will introduce the IONIQ 3 in less than a month. It’s expected to be more affordable than the Kona Electric, but Hyundai’s new EV will be much more advanced.
When will Hyundai launch the IONIQ 3?
We will see the IONIQ 3 for the first time at the Munich Motor Show in early September. Although Hyundai Europe’s CEO, Xavier Martinet, claims its IONIQ series is now the number two EV brand behind Tesla, this could be just the start.
Martinet told TopGear that the Inster EV and IONIQ 3 “are cheaper, so they’ll give us total coverage of the EV market.
The new EV, expected to arrive as the IONIQ 3, will sit between the Inster EV and Kona Electric in Hyundai’s lineup. According to TopGear, the IONIQ 3 will be slightly smaller than the Kona Electric, but more advanced. In the UK, the Hyundai Kona starts at £34,995 ($47,000), so prices are expected to start at about the same or even slightly less.
Like the Kia EV3, the UK’s best-selling retail EV through the first half of the year, the Hyundai IONIQ 3 is expected to be offered with 58.3 kWh and 81.4 kWh battery pack options for a WLTP range of about 260 and 365 miles.
Instead of the 800V electrical system used in the IONIQ 5, 6, and 9 models, the IONIQ 3 will use a cheaper 400V setup.
The interior will feature Hyundai’s latest software and new Pleos operating system, offering a smartphone-like user interface.
To save on costs, Hyundai will build the IONIQ 3 at its plant in Turkey. Martinet wants Hyundai to be just as big in the EV market as it is with gas and hybrid vehicles. Regarding EV sales, he explained that it “isn’t an absolute race but a race against the other manufacturers. We want the same share in all types of powertrain.”
Although adoption has been slower than some expected, Martinet still said, “people don’t go back to ICE” after owning an EV.”
Hyundai is expanding its lineup with new low-cost EVs, but still plans to continue selling gas-powered, plug-in hybrid (PHEV), and fully electric (EV) vehicles. It’s also looking to introduce extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs), which use a gas engine to power the battery.
Although the IONIQ 3 isn’t expected to arrive in the US, thanks to the new tariffs on imports, Hyundai still offers some of the most affordable EVs on the market.
After cutting prices again last month, the new 2025 Hyundai IONIQ 5 can now be leased for as low as $179 per month. It’s hard to find any monthly lease under $200, but for a $45,000 electric SUV, it’s a steal.
The Kia EV3 is already a top-selling electric vehicle in Europe and the most popular retail EV in the UK this year. Will Hyundai top it with the IONIQ 3? We’ll find out more soon. Stay tuned.
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