Disgraced crypto boss Sam Bankman-Fried is facing a new bribery charge
He allegedly agreed to pay $40 million in cryptocurrency to foreign officials.
Embattled crypto boss Sam Bankman-Fried now faces an additional charge of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, according to a superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday in the Southern District of New York.
The new indictment brings to 13 the total number of counts facing Bankman-Fried, all stemming from alleged corruption in the operations of the crypto companies he founded: FTX and Alameda Research.
Bankman-Fried allegedly agreed to pay $40 million in cryptocurrency to foreign officials in China so they would release certain trading accounts at two of China’s largest crypto exchanges that belonged to Alameda, according to the superseding indictment.
The accounts were frozen in 2021 by Chinese authorities as part of an investigation into a certain trading counterparty in Alameda.
“After the accounts were frozen, Samuel Bankman-Fried, the defendant and others operating under his instructions considered and tried a number of methods to unlock the accounts,” the indictment states. “After months of unsuccessful attempts to unfreeze the accounts, Samuel Bankman-Fried, the defendant, conferred with others and ultimately agreed to and imposed a multimillion dollar bribe to attempt to lift the freeze on the accounts.”
The alleged bribe payment was made in November 2021, when the accounts were frozen, prosecutors said, and Bankman-Fried resumed trading with an estimated $1 billion remaining in those accounts.
Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges. He has yet to enter a plea on this latest count and four others who were acquitted in an earlier superseding indictment in late February.
Bankman-Fried has been free on a $250 million personal recognizance bond and under court orders to live with her parents. On Thursday, the judge overseeing the case will consider additional restrictions on Bankman-Fried’s bail after federal prosecutors raised concerns about his Internet activities and his contact with current and former FTX employees.
According to a new lawsuit, Bankman-Fried’s parents have agreed not to let him use their phones and laptops and to install surveillance software on those devices that will photograph the device’s user every five minutes.
If the judge agrees, Bankman-Fried will not be allowed to contact current or former employees of FTX and Alameda, use Signal or other encrypted messaging apps, or use a VPN to access the internet.
He will receive a new laptop configured to allow access only to pre-approved websites, which are necessary for defense preparation or for personal use, and which do not pose a risk to the community.
