Sam Bankman-Fried has left a courthouse in the Bahamas after agreeing to be extradited, paving the way for the founder of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange to be flown to the US to face fraud charges.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan last week charged the 30-year-old cryptocurrency mogul with stealing billions of dollars in FTX customer assets to plug losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research.

US Attorney Damian Williams called it “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history”.

Mr Bankman-Fried left the courthouse on Wednesday (local time), surrounded by guards with assault weapons, and entered a vehicle, according to Reuters Video.

It was not immediately clear when Mr Bankman-Fried would depart the Caribbean nation for New York.

Mr Williams’ office had said it would hold a news conference later on Wednesday.

Mr Bankman-Fried was arrested on a US extradition request last week in the Bahamas, where he lives and where FTX is based. He initially said he would contest extradition, but Reuters and other outlets reported over the weekend that he would reverse that decision.

Mr Bankman-Fried decided to agree to extradition in part out of a “desire to make the relevant customers whole”, according to an affidavit read in court on Wednesday and dated December 20.

Dressed in a suit, Mr Bankman-Fried stepped up to the witness box in court, where he spoke clearly and steadily as he was sworn in.

“Yes, I do wish to waive my right to such formal extradition proceedings,” he told Judge Shaka Serville.

Mr Bankman-Fried’s defence lawyer said his client had eaten, was in good health and was “anxious to leave”.

The judge said he was satisfied that all legal requirements for extradition had been met and that Mr Bankman-Fried had not been “forced, coerced or threatened” into making the decision.

“I therefore formally commit you to custody while you await your extradition,” Judge Serville said.

The hearing was adjourned after the statements.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Mr Bankman-Fried’s lawyer requested that the “rule of speciality” be followed. Part of the Bahamas’ extradition treaty with the US, it says a person can be tried only on the charges for which they are extradited.

Mr Bankman-Fried has acknowledged risk-management failures at FTX, but has said he does not believe he has criminal liability.

Mr Bankman-Fried rode a crypto boom to become a billionaire several times over and an influential US political donor, before FTX’s crash wiped out his wealth and tarnished his reputation.

The collapse was driven by a wave of customer withdrawals amid concerns over commingling of funds with Alameda.

The $US32 billion ($48 billion) exchange declared bankruptcy on November 11, and Mr Bankman-Fried stepped down as chief executive the same day.

He has since been detained at the Bahamas Department of Corrections in Nassau, known as Fox Hill prison.

The US State Department in a 2021 report described conditions at the facility as “harsh”, citing overcrowding, rodent infestation and prisoners relying on buckets as toilets.

Local authorities say conditions have since improved.