NASSAU, BAHAMAS-  The Office of the Prime Minister is refuting claims that embattled FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried met with Prime Minister Philip Davis to discuss paying off country's $11 billion national debt.

In an excerpt from Michael Lewis' forthcoming biography, "Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon," it is claimed that Sam Bankman-Fried engaged in discussions about potentially paying off the entire national debt of The Bahamas with Prime Minister Davis. These revelations were recently shared by The Times of London.

Lewis, the acclaimed author of "The Big Short," reportedly conducted over 100 meetings with the FTX founder during a two-year period. These discussions surrounding the Bahamas' national debt reportedly took place in the context of FTX relocating its headquarters from Hong Kong to the Bahamas in 2021, partly due to increased regulatory pressure on cryptocurrency in China.

Bankman-Fried reportedly found The Bahamas to be an attractive location for FTX's headquarters due to its regulatory framework, which held the potential to legitimize the cryptocurrency industry, as detailed in Lewis' biography.

FTX was headquartered in The Bahamas, where Bankman-Fried was arrested in December 2022 and subsequently charged in connection with his management of the failed crypto exchange FTX, which suffered a liquidity crisis and subsequent bankruptcy.

Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried commingled customer funds and misled investors about the exchange's risk management practices, leading to substantial losses for investors and customers. Bankman-Fried's trial for alleged fraud and money laundering is set to begin with the jury selection on Tuesday.

The Office of the Prime Minister is expected to release a formal statement on the matter. 

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