When I first went on holiday, I was 18 years old and on the lookout for the perfect beach. You know the sort: powdery white sand and clear turquoise water set against a blazing blue sky. In those early years of travel, I saw beautiful beaches in Barbados, Tunisia, Thailand, Mexico and Dubai, but none were quite the same as the brochures and billboards. The post The best beaches we’ve ever seen appeared first on Atlas & Boots.
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried met with government officials at the White House on at least four separate occasions in 2022, one of which reportedly occurred just two months before the fall of his crypto empire. Most of the meetings were disclosed in visitor logs that are posted by the White House every month, with the records showing that Bankman-Fried met with Counselor to the President Steve Ricchetti on April 22 and May 12, along with another meeting on May 13 meeting with policy adviser Charlotte Butash. However, according to a Dec. 29 Bloomberg report, the former FTX CEO also met with the president’s counselor Ricchette as recently as Sept. 8, a meeting that did not show up on the visitor logs. White House 2022 visitor logs featuring Sam Bankman-Fried. Source: The White House ...
The online community including some cryptocurrency figures has condemned the latest so-called “sympathy” article from The New York Times written about FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. In the Dec. 26 article published titled “In the Bahamas, a Lingering Sympathy for Sam Bankman-Fried,” New York Times journalist Rob Copeland quotes local Bahamians who appeared to have mostly positive things to say about the cryptocurrency exchange founder. One resident opined he had a “good heart,” with another local saying they “feel bad for him.” A resident interviewed for the article even said it “doesn’t make any sense” that Bankman-Fried’s alleged crimes landed him in prison. The article suggests that the glowing reviews of Bankman-Fried by locals stem from his millions of dollars i...
Sam Bankman-Fried, the jailed founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange has reportedly signed papers on Dec. 20 that will soon see him handed over to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents and flown to the United States to face criminal charges. The move was expected, as Bankman-Fried was reported to have agreed in principle to being extradited to the U.S. earlier this week on Dec. 19, despite earlier reports indicating he wanted to see the indictment against him fir ABC News reported the development that Bankman-Fried signed extradition papers on Dec. 20 citing The Bahamas’ acting commissioner of corrections Doan Cleare. A Dec. 21 report from Bloomberg said the exchange founder signed surrender documents on Dec. 20 citing Cleare, with another set of papers waiving h...
A high-ranking executive at FTX’s Bahamian entity tipped off local regulators of potential fraud perpetrated at the cryptocurrency exchange just two days before the exchange was forced to close. According to Bahamian court records filed on Dec. 14, Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets (FDM), told the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB) on Nov. 9 that FTX was sending customer funds to its sister trading firm Alameda Research. Salame said the funds were to “cover financial losses of Alameda” and the transfer was “not allowed or consented to by their clients.” He also told the SCB only three people had the access required to transfer client assets to Alameda: Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX co-founder Zixiao “Gary” Wang and FTX engineer Nishad Singh. Ryan Salame ...
After being denied bail in a Bahamas Magistrate Court, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried could spend up to two months in the country’s Fox Hill Prison, a facility with reported cases of physical abuse against prisoners and “harsh” conditions. Authorities in the Bahamas reportedly remanded Bankman-Fried to the medical wing of Fox Hill following a Dec. 13 hearing. SBF’s counsel said he had been taking medication prior to his arrest on Dec. 12, including Adderall and anti-depressants, but it’s unclear if the former CEO will serve his time at the correctional facility, its medical unit, or an alternative location. According to a 2021 human rights report from the U.S. State Department, conditions at Fox Hill were “harsh.” Investigations determined that the facility was overcrowded, prisoners had...
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and founder of trading firm Alameda Research has been arrested by authorities in The Bahamas. A Dec. 12 statement from the Bahamas Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Ryan Pinder, states Bankman-Fried was arrested by the Royal Bahamas Police Force following a formal notification from the United States government that it has filed criminal charges against the FTX founder. The U.S. will likely request the extradition of Bankman-Fried. Pinder states The Bahamas will “promptly” process any extradition request by U.S. authorities. Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis said in a statement both countries have “a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may h...
After Billy McFarland’s release from prison, the Bahamian government isn’t open to considering second chances for the disgraced Fyre Festival founder. McFarland wasted no time scheming his plan to return to The Bahamas. He recently took to TikTok to cryptically tease the details of a so-called scavenger hunt, “PYRT,” which rapidly morphed into the groundwork for a nebulous follow-up to 2017’s disastrous Fyre Festival on the island of Great Exuma. It didn’t take long for the Deputy Prime Minister of The Bahamas, Chester Cooper, to catch wind of McFarland waiting in the wings. In a statement obtained by TMZ, Cooper spelled it out for McFarland, whom he referred to as a “fugitive,” that Bahamian locals have not forgotten how they were left holdi...
Retirement plans still largely remain at the periphery of both crypto adoption and the regulatory discussion. But last week, a major development emerged in this department. United States Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tina Smith of Minnesota became concerned about Fidelity’s recent announcement of adding Bitcoin (BTC) to its clients’ 401(k) retirement investment menu. In a letter to the company’s CEO Abigail Johnson, the lawmakers expressed their uneasiness over a “conflict of interests” and the “significant risks of fraud, theft and loss,” requesting from Fidelity a detailed outline of risk mitigation actions. Crypto 401(k) plans are still relatively rare, but they have already drawn suspicious attention from the U.S. Department of Labor. Crypto retirement investment...
File Photo A 35-year-old travel agent, Alao Ganiyu, on Monday appeared in a Chief Magistrates’ Court in Kaduna for allegedly defrauding a traveller of N1.7 million. The police charged Ganiyu with three counts of criminal breach of trust, cheating and forgery. The Prosecutor, Insp. Sunday Baba, told the court that the complainant, Lawal Salami, reported the matter on Oct. 25, through a petition to the Deputy Commissioner of Police State Criminal and Investigation Department. Baba alleged that sometime in 2019, the defendant promised to secure a visa to the Bahamas for the complainant . The prosecutor alleged that after collecting the money, the defendant converted it to his personal use and then forged a visa and ticket for the complainant which was rejected at the airport. Baba said that t...
Source: Afton Almaraz / Getty The United States is regressing when it comes to the pandemic and other territories have taken notice. One popular travel destination has turned its’ back on our tourist dollars. USA Today is reporting that The Bahamas is closing their doors to Americans. According to the feature the Caribbean island will no longer be accepting visits from several countries. Prime Minister Hubert Minnis confirmed the closure on Sunday, July 19 via a formal press release. “According to the World Health Organization, the world is approaching 19 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, including nearly 600,000 deaths. The highest number of confirmed cases is in the Americas, with approximately 7.3 million cases” it read. “The number of deaths and confirmed cases continue to rise, with t...