On Tuesday (March 28), US investigators said that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried authorized bribes of at least $40 million to Chinese officials.
The charge was added to the 12 already filed against the former FTX CEO. His 13th criminal accusation is “conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.”
According to news reports, the payments were made when Chinese officials froze approximately $1 billion in cryptocurrency trading accounts managed by FTX affiliate Alameda, which is FTX’s sibling firm, in early 2021.
FTX and its sibling trading business Alameda Research declared bankruptcy in November of last year after failing to meet customer withdrawal requests. It dissolved a virtual trading business that had been valued by the market at $32 billion at one point.
Bankman-Fried was extradited from his home in the Bahamas in December and charged with eight criminal offenses in connection with what prosecutors described as “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history.”
The government, however, expanded the case against Bankman-Fried last month to include allegations of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
In the aftermath of FTX’s bankruptcy in November, Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to a slew of fraud accusations. He is out on bond and living with his parents in California.
According to the indictment, Bankman-Fried and his friends “tried several means” to reclaim the monies, including hiring lawyers and communicating with Chinese exchanges.
After months of delays, Bankman-Fried “ultimately consented to and directed a multi-million-dollar bribe to seek to unfreeze the accounts,” according to the report.