New York, New York - Disgraced entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday in the wake of the spectacular failure of his cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

The bust came at the request of federal prosecutors in Manhattan, who have filed criminal charges against the 30-year-old.

"Earlier this evening, Bahamian authorities arrested Samuel Bankman-Fried at the request of the US Government, based on a sealed indictment filed by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York," Damian Williams, UA attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement.

"We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time."

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Bankman-Fried stepped down from FTX as it imploded last month when investors demanded their funds back and the company was unable to pay.

"The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law," Bahamian Prime Minister Philip Davis said in a statement obtained by US news channel CNBC.

"While the United States is pursuing criminal charges against SBF individually, The Bahamas will continue its own regulatory and criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX, with the continued cooperation of its law enforcement and regulatory partners in the United States and elsewhere."

Since Bankman-Fried's abrupt downfall, he has been insisting that loss of as much as $1 billion in funds was not his fault, and that he did not knowingly commit fraud.