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The Bahamas has more than 700 islands and cays; remote workers and students can live on 16 of them, including Eleuthera (shown here).

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Bahhamian lawyers say FTX executives Sam Bankman-Fried and Ryan Salame spent $256.3 million spent to buy and maintain 35 different properties across New Providence, Bahamas.

Now, Bahamas regulators are trying to claw back the property from FTX’s U.S. bankruptcy protection proceedings, telling a Delaware federal bankruptcy judge that allowing the properties to be administered in U.S. courts would be both administratively ineffective and illegal under Bahamas law.

It is the first true look behind the curtain at FTX’s mammoth real estate spending. Tens of millions were spent just at the small island development that Bankman-Fried called home, with FTX’s holding company buying at least 15 properties and one vacant lot for a combined total of over $143 million.

Two of the largest apartments at that private Albany development came in at an eye-watering $30 million, while another cost $21.3 million.

Bankman-Fried and Salame, the former co-CEOs of the bankrupt crypto exchange, also invested tens of millions into their current headquarters building, sinking over $25 million into the Veridian Corporate Center. FTX broke ground on a new headquarters in April 2022, but it’s been on hold since the exchange filed for bankruptcy in November.

Now, Bahamian regulators are fighting to get those assets back. In a Monday night filing, the Bahamian lawyers asked a U.S. judge to dismiss the chapter 11 proceedings for FTX’s property subsidiary. Bahamian attorneys told the court that because all of the property was in the Bahamas, and because “Bahamian law does not allow recognition of a foreign insolvency proceeding for a Bahamian company,” that the U.S. bankruptcy proceedings should be suspended and Bahamas regulators should be allowed to assume full control of the Bahamian real estate process.

The move is likely to spark pushback from FTX US attorneys and CEO John Ray, who has committed to maximizing recovery for FTX clients both in the U.S. and abroad through restructuring and asset sales. U.S. and Bahamian lawyers have been tussling in court over jurisdiction, with each side crying foul at the other.

FTX filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 11 after reporting from CoinDesk revealed significant irregularities in sister hedge fund Alameda Research’s balance sheets. An eleventh-hour rescue by Binance ultimately failed, precipitating a run on the bank and a sudden liquidity crisis for an exchange that had once been heralded as the saving grace of crypto.

Founder Bankman-Fried is now in Bahamian jail, facing unspecified charges by U.S. prosecutors; the indictment is due to be unsealed on Tuesday. Crisis continues to loom large over the entire crypto space. BlockFi filed for bankruptcy in November. Myriad exchanges have either frozen or paused redemptions and withdrawals. Rumors swirl about what exchange, if any, will be the next to fall, even as crypto firms release apparently audited proof-of-reserves in a bid to shore up investor confidence.

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried arrested in the Bahamas, awaits extradition to the US

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AMD expects $800 million hit from U.S. chip restrictions on China

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AMD expects 0 million hit from U.S. chip restrictions on China

Lisa Su, CEO of AMD, attends the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit at the Grand Palais in Paris, Feb. 10, 2025.

Benoit Tessier | Reuters

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices slid more than 5% on Wednesday after the company said it could incur charges of up to $800 million for exporting its MI308 products to China and other countries.

“The Company expects to apply for licenses but there is no assurance that licenses will be granted,” AMD said in the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The new U.S. license requirement, which applies to exports of certain semiconductor products, would hit inventory, purchase commitments and related reserves, AMD said in the filing.

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AMD is one of the companies that builds the hardware behind the artificial intelligence boom. The company claims its AMD Instinct MI300 Series accelerators are “uniquely well-suited to power even the most demanding AI and HPC workloads,” according to its website.

It generated a “record” revenue of $25.8 billion in 2025, according to its February earnings release, but the new export restrictions could slow growth.

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Nvidia, an AMD competitor, released a similar disclosure on Tuesday. The company said it will take a quarterly charge of about $5.5 billion for exporting H20 graphics processing units.

China is Nvidia’s fourth-largest region by sales, after the U.S., Singapore, and Taiwan, according to the company’s annual report. More than half of its sales went to U.S. companies in its fiscal year that ended in January.

–CNBC’s Kif Leswing and Jordan Novet contributed to this report.

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Chip stocks fall as Nvidia, AMD warn of higher costs from China export controls

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Chip stocks fall as Nvidia, AMD warn of higher costs from China export controls

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang delivers the keynote for the Nvidia GPU Technology Conference at the SAP Center in San Jose, California, on March 18, 2025.

Brittany Hosea-small | Reuters

Technology stocks declined Wednesday, led by a 5% drop in Nvidia, as the chipmaking sector signaled that President Donald Trump‘s sweeping tariff plans could hamper demand and growth.

Nvidia revealed in a filing Tuesday that it will take a $5.5 billion charge tied to exporting its H20 graphics processing units to China and other countries and said that the government will require a license to ship the chips there and other destinations.

The chip was designed specifically for China use during President Joe Biden’s administration to meet U.S. export restrictions barring the sale of advanced AI processors, which totaled an estimated $12 billion to $15 billion in revenue in 2024. Advanced Micro Devices said in a filing Wednesday that the latest export controls on its MI308 products could lead to an $800 million hit.

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Chipmaking stocks have struggled in the wake of President Donald Trump’s sweeping U.S. trade restrictions, sparked by fears that higher tariffs will stifle demand.

The disclosures from Nvidia and AMD are the first major signs that Trump’s fierce battle with China could significantly hamper chip growth. The administration has made some exemptions for electronics, including semiconductors, but has warned that separate tariffs could come down the road.

Adding to the sector worries was a disappointing print from Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML. The company missed order expectations and said that tariff restrictions create demand uncertainty. Shares fell about 5%.

The VanEck Semiconductor ETF fell more than 4%, with AMD plunging more than 5%. Micron Technology, Marvell Technology and Broadcom sank about 2% each. Equipment makers Applied Materials and Lam Research fell about 3% each.

The declines spilled over into the broader market and tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which dropped nearly 2%. Meta Platforms, Alphabet and Tesla lost about 2% each. Amazon, Microsoft and Apple were last down about 1% each.

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Lyft to buy taxi app Free Now for $200 million to expand into Europe

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Lyft to buy taxi app Free Now for 0 million to expand into Europe

Lyft logo is seen in this illustration taken June 27, 2022.

Dado Ruvic | Reuters

U.S. ride-hailing firm Lyft on Wednesday announced that it’s buying European taxi app Free Now in a 175 million euro ($199 million) deal.

The company said that the acquisition — Lyft’s first in Europe — is expected to close in the second half of 2025, and that, once combined, the two companies will serve over 50 million combined annual users.

Founded in 2009 as myTaxi, Free Now is a ride-hailing platform headquartered in Hamburg, Germany. The company has been jointly owned by German automotive giants BMW and Mercedes-Benz since 2019.

The app is available in over 150 cities across nine countries, including Ireland, the U.K., Germany and France. Beyond traditional taxi and ride-hailing services, Free Now also offers other mobility options including e-scooters, e-mopeds and e-bikes.

Free Now has been joint-owned by German automotive giants BMW and Mercedes-Benz since 2016.

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The startup is earnings-positive on the basis of Earnings Before Interest, Debt and Amortization, generating gross bookings over 1 billion euros in 2024, according to a company fact sheet.

Acquiring Free Now will give Lyft a route to expand into the highly competitive European ride-hailing market, where it will come up against the likes of Uber, Estonia’s Bolt and Israel’s Gett.

Lyft’s closest domestic rival, Uber, has a lengthy head start on the firm, having first launched in the U.K. back in 2012. It has since been beset by a series of regulatory issues.

London’s transport regulators tried to ban Uber two times over safety concerns. The company was eventually awarded a fresh license to continue operating in the city in 2022.

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