ANXIETY REIGNS IN ANTIGUA AFTER NEWS OF COOPERATING DEFENDANTS IN FTX CASE BREAKS IN NEW YORK

Reliable sources in Antigua & Barbuda report that several prominent individuals, including the country's Prime Minister, Gaston Browne, and bankers and lawyers connected to a local financial institutions that had dealing with the now-defunct cybercurrency giant FTX, all fear that they may be charged in connection with the massive fraud and illegal diversion of assets alleged to have occurred. 

Two of the most senior officers of FTX and Alameda have already entered guilty pleas, and begun cooperating with law enforcement, and an additional individual, SBF himself, is now reported to be assisting investigators unravel a complex web of fraud, mismanagement theft on a grand scale, and other offenses which include money laundering and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations.

PM Browne, who had a relationship with FTX owner Samuel Bankman-Fried, and who visited SBF in the Bahamas in the company of an unidentified Syrian national, on still unknown business, is said to be especially concerned about being identified as having taken certain action in support of Bankman's operations. FTX was incorporated in Antigua, and though it maintained its principal office in the Bahamas, it had a presence in Antigua's capital. One source has used the term "fear and loathing" to describe the mood inside government circles today.