The Bahamas government says Christopher Davis, the son of Prime Minister Phillip Davis, received no funding from FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who on Thursday was convicted by a federal jury in New York of fraud charges.
Bankman-Fried, who was deported from the Bahamas last year, was accused of stealing an estimated US$10 billion from customers and investors in what a US prosecutor described as one of the biggest frauds in American history.
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Bankman-Fried, 31, could face decades in prison after prosecutors said he cheated thousands of customers of billions of dollars before the collapse of his companies in November 2022.
Prosecutors said he spent the money on investments, real estate, promotions for his cryptocurrency exchange, and political contributions.
In a statement issued before the verdict was given, the Office of the Prime Minster said that the younger Davis, an author, and researcher on the history of slavery in the Bahamas, is the founder of a non-profit organization called Sankofa Flamingo, which strengthens Bahamian ties to historical roots in Africa and promotes Junkanoo in Africa.
It said in late 2022, Sankofa Flamingo was exploring ways to use NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, to benefit Junkanoo artists, straw vendors, and others whose artistry would be represented in digital form and traded online.
“In the fall of 2022, FTX was one of the most prominent exchanges for the trade of digital assets, including NFTs. NFTs were thought to hold great promise for providing artists with a new revenue stream to support their work.
“Christopher Davis and a fellow non-profit colleague had a single meeting with Bankman-Fried to learn more about NFTs. Neither Christopher nor his non-profit received any funding as a result of the meeting,” the brief statement added.
Bankman-Fried was extradited from the Bahamas to the United States last December.
He was originally freed on a US$250 million personal recognizance bond to live with his parents in California.
But, he was jailed in August after a judge concluded that he had tried to tamper with possible trial witnesses.
Bankman-Fried testified for three days during the month-long trial telling the jury he didn’t commit fraud.
Three of his former fellow top executives pleaded guilty to fraud charges and testified against him. CMC
