ReutersFormer FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried will face home detention while awaiting trial in the US on charges that he defrauded customers and investors of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange.
A US judge ordered the 30-year-old former billionaire could be released to his parents on a $250m bond, a day after his extradition from the Bahamas, where FTX was based.
He is expected to enter a plea later.
Two of his colleagues pleaded guilty to fraud on Wednesday.
They are helping prosecutors, who have accused Mr Bankman-Friedof unlawfully using customer deposits made at FTX to fund his other crypto firm, Alameda Research, buy property and make millions of dollars in political donations.
In a press conference last week, following his arrest in the Bahamas, federal prosecutors in New York described it as “one of the biggest financial frauds in US history” announcing eight criminal charges, including wire fraud, money laundering and campaign finance violations.
Mr Bankman-Fried spent nine days in prison in the Bahamas, weighing his choices before telling the Nassau magistrates’ court on Wednesday that he would not fight extradition,which could have sparked a long legal fight.
At Thursday’s court hearing in New York, assistant US Attorney Nick Roos said prosecutors would not oppose releasing Mr Bankman-Fried on bail, despite a “fraud of epic proportions”, pointing to his decision to return to the US voluntarily and his much diminished financial state.
Mr Bankman-Fried’s release requires him to surrender his passport and submit to home detention and location monitoring.
The son of two Stanford University professors,Mr Bankman-Fried founded FTX in 2019.
Known to his legions of fans as SBF, the curly-headed MIT graduate was a hero in the crypto world, known for bailing out struggling firms and massive donations to charity.
The company, which was once valued at more than $30bn (£25bn), declared bankruptcy in November, after customers and investors rushed to pull their funds from the firm amid reports that its finances were shaky.
Mr Bankman-Fried, who stepped down as chief executive the same day, has previously denied deliberate wrongdoing, and said he is focused on restoring funds to customers.
