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Sam Bankman-Fried appeared to nod asleep in a Bahamas courtroom during a Monday hearing in which he agreed to be extradited to the United States despite the recommendation of his attorney.

Bankman-Fried, who is accused of defrauding FTX customers out of $8 billion, was allegedly spotted ‘leaning back with his eyes closed’ before court personnel roused him.

The 30-year-old man who wore a dark blue jacket and untucked shirt to the court hearing appeared to have been affected by the case’s pressure.

A person acquainted with the situation stated on Monday that Bankman-Fried agreed to be extradited to the United States to face fraud charges, barely hours after the FTX founder’s attorney informed a Bahamas judge he was not prepared to consent.

Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (pictured) appeared to nod asleep during a Monday court hearing in the Bahamas.

At the court hearing, the 30-year-old donned a dark blue blazer and an untucked shirt, suggesting that the case had taken its toll.

The reversal allows the 30-year-old cryptocurrency tycoon to face charges in New York over allegations that he stole billions from FTX clients to cover losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research, before the exchange abruptly crashed in November.

It was unclear when Bankman-Fried would leave the Bahamas, where he was arrested on December 12 in response to an extradition request from the United States. At the completion of Monday’s hearing, no further court date was announced.

Mark Cohen, his defense attorney located in the United States, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office did not reply quickly to calls for comment.

Bankman-surprising Fried’s decision after a stormy hearing before Magistrate Shaka Serville in a court in Nassau on Monday morning, following allegations by Reuters and other media agencies that he had decided to alter his decision to contest extradition over the weekend.

Jerone Roberts, his local criminal defense attorney, first told Serville during the hearing that he did not know why Bankman-Fried had been brought to court on Monday morning.

Following a recess, the attorney stated that Bankman-Fried had read an affidavit outlining the charges against him, but before consenting to extradition, he wanted to examine the indictment filed against him last week in federal court in New York.

During the hearing, Serville stated that he could not proceed on Bankman-extradition Fried’s without the former billionaire’s permission.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the creator of FTX, was warned against agreeing to extradition to the United States. Jerone Roberts (left), a local defense attorney, was approached by a media outside of court.

The Magistrate Court building where the FTX founder appeared for an extradition hearing is surrounded by a fence topped with barbed wire.

Roberts (left), a local defense counsel representing FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, was followed by journalists as he exited the Magistrate Court in Nassau, Bahamas.

Serville stated, “I can only be moved by Mr. Bankman-Fried, and he has not moved me.”

Bankman-Fried was permitted to talk with his U.S. attorney over the phone before being returned to the Fox Hill prison in the Caribbean nation. A Reuters witness stated that he left the courthouse in a black van labelled ‘Corrections’ while carrying a manila folder holding paperwork.

Franklyn Williams, the deputy director of legal affairs for the Bahamas, who represents the United States in its effort to extradite Bankman-Fried, referred to the day’s proceedings as “extraordinary” and appeared upset by the delay.

The 30-year-old crypto tycoon rode a surge in the value of bitcoin and other digital assets to become a multibillionaire and important political donor in the United States, until FTX collapsed in early November following a rush of withdrawals. The exchange filed for bankruptcy protection on November 11.

Bankman-Fried has admitted risk management failings at FTX but stated that he is not criminally liable.

DailyMail.com discovered Bankman-Fried on the balcony of a $30 million Bahamas penthouse. Later, he stated that he did not reside there but remained in the Bahamas.

During the Monday hearing, he merely spoke to greet Serville and clarify that he would speak with his U.S. attorney.

A day following his detention, on December 13, Bankman-Fried was sent to a jail facility in the Bahamas. According to a 2021 report by the U.S. State Department, detainees experienced mice and a lack of toilets at the facility. However, according to local authorities, things have since improved.

At his December 13 hearing, he described his arrest night as “chaotic.”

Roberts, his criminal defense attorney in the Bahamas, told the New York Times that his client had agreed to be extradited willingly and that he believed Bankman-Fried would return to court later this week.

Roberts was cited as adding, “As counsel, we will draft the required paperwork to activate the court,” according to the news source. The motivation for Mr. Bankman-decision Fried’s is his desire to make amends with his consumers.

Roberts could not be reached immediately for comment.

Krystal Rolle, a lawyer who has represented Bankman-Fried in non-criminal situations in the Bahamas, verified Roberts’ earlier statements to Eyewitness News Bahamas that Bankman-Fried would renounce his right to an extradition hearing voluntarily.

The cryptocurrency CEO whose faltering FTX prompted market panic: a hoodie-wearing vegan previously worth “$25BILLION” who sleeps four hours each night.

Sam Bankman-Fried

Sam Bankman-Fried, a vegan who sleeps four hours a night, had become a prominent face of crypto currency with an estimated personal worth of nearly $25 billion, which Forbes magazine reports has subsequently decreased to $100,000.

The popularity of FTX enabled the platform to create renowned relationships, including those with American football icon Tom Brady and former supermodel Gisele Bundchen, and also featured comedian Larry David in a Super Bowl television commercial.

Bankman-Fried, who almost always wears a hoodie and a black T-shirt, has committed to contribute nearly his entire fortune to his favorite causes, such as animal welfare and the battle against global warming.

Before turning to cryptocurrencies in 2017, he worked as a Wall Street broker. He is the son of Stanford Law School professors and a graduate of the renowned Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

According to Bankman-Fried, the Bahamas is ‘one of the few countries with a full licensing regime for cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency exchanges.’ As a result, the company was relocated to the Caribbean nation, where taxes are nearly nonexistent.

He has been an outspoken champion for easier public access to the cryptocurrency market, notably in the United States

Salome (right) and the midwife “Emea” (left), bathing the infant Jesus, are common figures in Orthodox icons of the Nativity of Jesus; here in a 12th-century fresco from Cappadocia. / Public Domain

Washington D.C., Dec 20, 2022 / 14:40 pm (CNA).

A team of archaeologists has unearthed artifacts from an ancient Jewish burial cave associated with Salome, who according to some Christian traditions was a midwife at the Nativity of Jesus.

The cave is the site of a centuries-old Christian pilgrimage destination located in the Lachish region in central Israel, the Times of Israel reported Tuesday. Looters first happened upon the elaborate cave in 1982 before it was formally excavated in 1984. Now it’s being examined once again, and the team of researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) is preparing to open it to the public.

“We believe that pilgrims would come here, rent an oil lamp, perform their prayers inside, and go on their way,” IAA archaeologist Zvi Firer said, according to the Times. “It’s like today when you go to the grave of a revered rabbi and light a candle there.”

The burial cave became a pilgrimage destination after local Christians identified it as Salome’s burial place in the Byzantine era, Firer said.

Most recently, archaeologists have discovered a courtyard at the cave’s entrance spanning almost 4,000 square feet, the Times reported. It features detailed stone carvings, high arches, a mosaic floor, and the remains of a shop where pilgrims may have rented oil lamps.

Hundreds of lamps were found, archeologists said, according to the Jerusalem Post. Of those, more than two dozen — dating back to the eighth or ninth century — were found still intact.

Salome, or St. Mary Salome, is known as the wife of Zebedee and the mother of James the Greater and John the Evangelist. She appears in the Bible as one of Jesus’ followers, who witnessed his crucifixion and death and brought spices to anoint his body on Easter.

Many Catholics express skepticism about the legend drawn from the apocryphal Gospel of James that says Salome was a midwife who came, unbelieving, to the stable at Bethlehem and converted.

“No midwife assisted at his birth; no women’s officiousness intervened,” St. Jerome, a doctor of the Church, wrote in “The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary: Against Helvidius.”

“With her own hands she wrapped him in the swaddling clothes, herself both mother and midwife.”

Firer explained how the cave may have come to be associated with Salome.

“The name Salome may possibly have appeared in antiquity on one of the ossuaries [stone boxes] in the tomb, and the tradition identifying the site with Salome the midwife developed, with the cave becoming venerated by Christianity,” he told the Times.

The cave consists of several chambers, including the first room that dates back to the Second Temple period, or from the sixth century B.C. to A.D. 70, according to the Times. The inner rooms of the burial cave are from the Byzantine era, or from around A.D. 300 to A.D. 600.

The recent discoveries come as archaeologists are preparing to open the cave to the public for the first time as part of the Judean Kings Trail, a 60-mile trek featuring dozens of historical archaeological sites.

The project is led by the IAA, the Ministry for Jerusalem and Heritage, and the Jewish National Fund.

A photo of Deborah Emmanuel on her Facebook page. Emmanuel, a Christian student in Nigeria, was killed by an Islamic mob on her college campus on May 12, 2022. / CNA

Washington D.C., Dec 20, 2022 / 16:15 pm (CNA).

Rhoda Jatau, a Christian and mother of five, was charged with blasphemy in a Nigerian court yesterday for forwarding a video defending a lynched Christian student.

During her arraignment on Monday, Jatau was officially charged with blasphemy, inciting a mob, and exciting contempt of religious creed.

She is being tried in the northeast Nigerian state of Bauchi’s high court. Bauchi practices a form of Sharia law, under which blasphemy is a crime punishable by execution.

Jatau, a 45-year-old medical worker, was arrested by Nigerian authorities on May 20 and has been held without the ability to communicate and without a trial for over six months, which is against both Nigerian and international law, according to religious rights advocates.

Jatau was arrested after forwarding a video of a Muslim denouncing the mob killing of Nigerian Christian college student Deborah Emmanuel.

The student was killed on May 12 by a lynch mob of fanatical Muslim students who accused her of blasphemy. Emmanuel was stoned and burned to death for posting to social media that Jesus had helped her do well on an exam.

Jatau forwarded the video defending Emmanuel via Whatsapp to her work colleagues at the Primary Healthcare Board of the town of Warji. Some of her co-workers reported the video and Jatau was subsequently accused of blasphemy.

According to local news source Light Bearer News, when news of Jatau’s actions reached the public many immediately called for her death. One Muslim group posted her photo online and called her “the one God has cursed.”

During the riots that ensued, 15 Christians were seriously injured, and several buildings were burned down, according to Light Bearer News. Jatau herself was imprisoned by Nigeria’s Department of State Services.

According to Jatau’s arraignment documents, obtained by CNA from Alliance Defending Freedom  International (ADFI), she is being held responsible for the casualties and damage caused by the riots.

The first count charges Jatau with high crimes, stating:

“That you Rhoda Jatau of Warji Local Government Area, Bauchi State, on 20/05/2022 at 1112 hours … posted a blasphemous video clip … to the Whatsapp Platform of Warji Local Government Primary Health Care Management with intent to disturb the public peace in which the content of the video is a blasphemy of the Holy Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. as a result of which the said blasphemous video clip incited disturbance and … led to the destruction of many shops and houses.”

Advocates for religious liberty responded with outrage over the charges leveled against Jatau by the Nigerian state.

“It’s outrageous,” Sean Nelson of ADFI told CNA. “Rhoda was subjected to mob violence and attacks based on her peaceful expression, and now the Bauchi State government is trying to hold her responsible for the rioting of others.”

Nigeria’s laws against blasphemy have sparked criticism from human rights organizations and religious freedom advocates who say the laws authorize and encourage violence against the free expression of religious minorities.

“No one should be persecuted for their faith or face punishment for peaceful expression,” Nelson told CNA. “Rhoda reportedly did nothing but share a video on social media condemning violence based on accusations of blasphemy. And for that, she herself is now being charged with blasphemy.”

Nelson called Jatau’s arraignment an “example of how far these blasphemy laws can be stretched.” According to Nelson, the charges against Jatau demonstrate how “the government allows violent mobs to act with impunity and punishes those who speak out against the mob.”

The papal organization Aid to the Church in Need, which tracks religious freedom globally, stated in its 2022 “Persecuted and Forgotten?” report that “more than 7,600 Christians [were] killed” in Nigeria between 2020 and 2022.

Persecution of Nigerian Christians has been carried out by both the Nigerian government, as in Jatau’s case, as well as non-state actors including jihadist groups Islamic State West Africa Province and Boko Haram.

Despite the ongoing crisis, Christians’ plight in Nigeria has gone largely unnoticed by the international community, according to religious rights organizations. This month, for the second consecutive year, Nigeria was removed from the U.S. Department of State’s list of “countries of particular concern” regarding religious freedom violations.

Nelson pointed out that “Rhoda’s arraignment comes on the heels of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, at which the Bauchi State governor was in attendance.”

Bala Mohammed, Bauchi’s governor, and Muhammadu Buhari, the president of Nigeria, were both in Washington, D.C., last week for the U.S. Africa Leaders Summit hosted by President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“The trial against Rhoda is in flagrant violation of international law,” Nelson stated to CNA. “The international community needs to speak out strongly on her behalf until she is released. Her trial is another clear and egregious example of why Nigeria should never have been removed from the U.S.’s Countries of Particular Concern list.”

According to ADF, Jatau’s first hearing is set for Jan. 16, 2023.

The Vatican Museums. / Daniel Ibáñez/CNA.

Denver, Colo., Dec 20, 2022 / 11:31 am (CNA).

An Italian publishing house involved in immersive art exhibitions has denied an American attorney’s claim that it is wrongly presenting itself as a broker for licensing the use of Vatican art.

Giorgio Armaroli, CEO and editor of Scripta Maneant, rejected the implications of a Dec. 14 article in the Daily Wire, which first reported the misconduct allegations.

“Nothing of what is communicated is true,” he said in a Dec. 14 Italian-language statement. The company, he said, negotiated its rights primarily for an exhibit about Italian Renaissance masters, only a small part of which concerned artwork in the Vatican museums.

“Scripta Maneant has never declared and will never declare that it can transfer any image or image license to anyone, neither for this type of activity or for activities of a purely editorial nature.”

The Daily Wire cited Sarah Rose Speno, a New York attorney, and other sources to suggest that Scripta Maneant wrongly claimed authority to negotiate rights for the images of the art of the Vatican Museums.

Speno, who had been involved on behalf of a U.S. client in negotiations for usage rights for Scripta Maneant’s photographs of artwork, said the publishing house had incorrectly claimed the ability to secure publishing rights through an alleged collaboration with Monsignor Paolo Nicolini, vice director of the Vatican Museums.

“This scheme is nothing less than a premeditated, high-tech heist of world-class treasured art from the Vatican Museums under the disguise of bogus licenses, as if sanctioned by the Vatican,” Speno told the Daily Wire.

She said the publishing company’s actions misrepresented Vatican involvement and siphoned money that could otherwise have been another stream of income from the Vatican.

Scope of licensing rights in dispute

According to the Daily Wire, the company only had the rights to high-resolution photos of Vatican artwork for a limited edition book. Though Scripta Maneant had named Nicolini as its authorizing contact at the Vatican, Nicolini told the Daily Wire he had never given the company authority to broker rights to images of Vatican art.

The Daily Wire said its review of communications suggests Scripta Maneant sold licensing rights of the “Immersive Rome and the Vatican” exhibition launched in the U.S. in October. The exhibit’s website states it takes place “in collaboration with Scripta Maneant under the grant of copyright Governatorato dello S.C.V. direzione dei musei.” The Italian phrase means “Governorate of Vatican City State, director of museums.”

The exhibition is presented by Lighthouse Immersive, founded in 2019 by Toronto-based producers Corey Ross and Svetlana Dvoretsky.

Dvoretsky told the Daily Wire that Lighthouse works “very carefully to obtain all the appropriate documents when producing our exhibits.” Francesco Iori, head of logistics at Scripta Maneant, said the company has done nothing wrong and all materials have the correct approval and documentation.

Armaroli said the article “reports facts that never happened.” He said Scripta Maneant has the right to sue if the “defamatory accusations” are not immediately withdrawn.

Another company involved in the controversy is Museum Masters International (MMI), which markets and licenses the work of many famous artists, including for art merchandise sold at prominent art museum gift shops.

Marilyn Goldberg, president and founder of Museum Masters International, said that her organization had worked through Speno to secure legal permission to use the photos of Vatican artworks from Scripta Maneant.

The organization waited for months for this permission, which never came. It then ended its working relationship with Speno.

“We do not agree with any language” of the Daily Wire article or have “anything to do with” the actions alleged in it, Goldberg said in a statement.

According to Goldberg, Speno recently advised MMI that she intended to send an international press release about Scripta Maneant, the Vatican Museum, and immersive exhibit operators she alleges are using Vatican images without permission.

When the company learned of this plan it wanted to clarify that it was not involved.

Conflicting accounts

Speno responded in a Dec. 15 statement to CNA, saying “despite exhaustive due diligence on my part and by others, Scripta Maneant has at no time provided evidence of their documented authority to license images of artworks, including of the Sistine Chapel, owned by the Vatican.”

“As with any jurisdiction or country, there are always ‘bad actors’ to avoid, who pretend they own legal rights for exploitation commercially,” she added. “It is clear to me that Scripta and MMI/Marilyn Goldberg are acting collaboratively and have issued their respective statements in an attempt to exculpate Scripta Maneant from any exposure to the Vatican.”

Depicting the two companies’ statements as a collaboration, Speno added: “It is also clear that MMI/Marilyn Goldberg believes, today, that collaborating with Scripta Maneant, clearly a ‘bad actor,’ is in their best interests.”

Goldberg said that Speno had told MMI that in her work for them she had identified Scripta Maneant as the official party for rights negotiation and demanded MMI not speak directly with the publishing house while she completed negotiation for exclusive worldwide rights for an immersive exhibit.

“It appeared she tried to sell the rights we were guaranteed for our company alone, to someone else who we do not know,” said Goldberg, adding that her company had “never received any definition” of the other party.

“However she only got involved with us and demanded representation in order to secure our sole and exclusive rights and she never did,” Goldberg said.

Speno told CNA: “At no time did I extort nor did I seek to acquire a power of attorney from MMI/Marilyn Goldberg.” She characterized her work for MMI as an attorney “primarily in the capacity of performing due diligence in connection with a search for, and legal confirmation of, certain high-resolution digital images of artworks, paintings, and objects in particular the images collection of The Sistine Chapel — all as owned by the Vatican.”

Speno told the Daily Wire that Scripta Maneant had asked up to $550,000 for the rights, with part of this going to the Vatican through Nicolini. In remarks to the Daily Wire, Nicolini strongly denied handling any funds.

In his statement on behalf of Scripta Maneant, Armoli noted that the agreement concerned up to 40 new exhibitions in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. His numbers diverge somewhat from Speno’s report: He said the proposed agreement was for 550,000 euros, about $584,000.

If 40 exhibitions were produced, Armaroli noted, this cost would average only 13,750 euros per exhibit. He said the Italian publisher had sought an 82,500-euro deposit, to be returned to MMI if Vatican permission was not secured. This deposit was never paid, he said.

Members of the Cuban Coast Guard hand out life jackets to migrants on a drifting boat in Havana on Dec. 12, 2022. / Photo by YAMIL LAGE/AFP via Getty Images

CNA Newsroom, Dec 20, 2022 / 13:15 pm (CNA).

The archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, Dionisio García, asked the faithful to pray to Christ so that the time would come when no Cuban has to leave his homeland, since migration has separated many families.

The prelate made this request Sunday at the Basilica of Our Lady of Charity of Cobre, a Marian shrine where the original image of the patroness of Cuba is kept.

“Let us pray for our people, for families that have been separated, especially for work reasons, but mainly for immigration, because of which so many families have been separated,” García said at the beginning of the Sunday Mass.

The archbishop prayed “that the time would come when Cubans don’t have to, don’t want to leave their homeland. So that we Cubans can recognize ourselves as brothers wherever we are.”

When celebrating the Eucharist on the last Sunday of Advent, García asked the faithful to pray to the Lord so that with the coming of Christmas, Cuba “would know that mystery of love that is God, who becomes man for our salvation.”

“May we all remember the feast of Christmas. And may we remember it as a celebration of hope and joy” and of the family, since Christ “was born in a family formed by Joseph, by Mary, and by the Son, the child Jesus,” he said.

In late November, in its letter for the beginning of Advent, the Cuban Conference of Catholic Bishops also referred to the phenomenon of migration.

“We want express greetings to the families, who suffer from emigration and need in a special way, that the light that Jesus lit when he was born poor and humble in Bethlehem may shine warmly, showing them his close, supportive presence, which consoles and comforts, which gives us the certainty that in Jesus all paths come together and all distances are shortened,” the bishops’ conference said.

The United States continues to be the main destination for thousands of Cubans seeking to migrate. Many of them are using precarious rafts, with the risks these entail.

According to official U.S. figures, in fiscal year 2022 — from Oct. 1, 2021, to Sept. 30, 2022 — 224,607 Cubans arrived, with an average of 615 per day.

In addition, this past October, part of fiscal year 2023, 29,872 Cubans entered irregularly, approximately 963 people per day.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.