San Francisco, Dec 13 (TIWN) Following his arrest in the Bahamas, US authorities on Tuesday officially charged former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried with defrauding equity investors.

Bankman-Fried had "built a house of cards on a foundation of deception" in his dealings with investors in his FTX crypto firm, the SEC said.

"Today we are holding Mr. Bankman-Fried responsible for fraudulently raising billions of dollars from investors in FTX and misusing funds belonging to FTX's trading customers."

The charge comes a day after Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas on the eve of his scheduled appearance at a US congressional hearing in which he was to testify under oath about the crypto exchange's overnight demise.

The SEC said investigations "as to other securities law violations and into other entities and persons relating to the alleged misconduct are ongoing."

The 30-year-old had in recent weeks defied legal advice and made multiple media appearances offering his version of his company's sudden failure, usually by video link from the Bahamas, where his company is headquartered.

According to a press release from the attorney general's office in the Bahamas, Bankman-Fried was to be held in custody before an expected request for his extradition by the United States.

The Bahamian prime minister's office shared news of the arrest, as well as a police statement saying Bankman-Fried was arrested in the early evening at his apartment complex in the capital Nassau.

He was taken into custody without incident, the statement said, and was to appear in court in Nassau on Tuesday.