Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of failed crypto currency exchange FTX and trading firm Alameda Research, has been arrested in The Bahamas at the request of the US government, according to a statement by Attorney General of the Caribbean country.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of failed crypto currency exchange FTX and trading firm Alameda Research, has been arrested in The Bahamas at the request of the US government, according to a statement by Attorney General of the Caribbean country.

Bankman-Fried is now scheduled to appear in a magistrates' court in the Bahamas capital Nassau later on Tuesday and faces extradition to the US to where he is accused of "financial offences" against laws both there and in The Bahamas.

According to a court-filing made last month, FTX owed $3.1 billion to its 50 largest creditors when it went into liquidation.

Bankman-Fried, who was due to testify about the collapse of his cryptocurrency empire before the US Congress on Tuesday, will now be held in custody "pursuant of our nation's Extradition Act," the Attorney General of the Bahamas said in a statement.