Ex-Crypto CEO Bankman-Fried Charged with Bribing Chinese Officials | News about corruption
The United States is accusing the founder of now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange of conspiring to pay $40 billion to Chinese officials.
US prosecutors have unveiled a new indictment against Sam Bankman-Fried, accusing the founder of the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange of conspiring to bribe Chinese government officials with payments worth $40 million.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged Bankman-Fried with directing the payment to unfreeze accounts belonging to his hedge fund, Alameda Research, that had been frozen by Chinese authorities. The accounts contained more than $1 billion in cryptocurrency, US prosecutors said.
The accounts were frozen after the bribe payment was transferred around November 2021 from Alameda’s main trading account to a private cryptocurrency wallet, according to the new indictment on Tuesday.
After the accounts were frozen, Bankman-Fried authorized the transfer of tens of millions of dollars in additional cryptocurrency to complete the bribery, prosecutors said.
The new charge increases the pressure on the 31-year-old former billionaire, who has previously pleaded not guilty to eight counts over the collapse of FTX. Prosecutors say Bankman-Fried stole billions of dollars in customer funds to cover losses at Alameda.
Attorneys for Bankman-Fried did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Bankman-Fried has acknowledged inadequate risk management at FTX, but has denied having stolen money.
China’s foreign ministry could not immediately be reached for comment after normal business hours in Beijing.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan scheduled a hearing Thursday after prosecutors requested that Bankman-Fried be arraigned on the new 13-count indictment.
Prosecutors last month unveiled four new counts against Bankman-Fried, accusing him of orchestrating an illegal campaign donation scheme to buy influence in Washington, DC. He has not yet been arraigned on the new charges.
The new count charges Bankman-Fried with conspiring to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which makes it illegal for US citizens to bribe foreign government officials to win business.
Bankman-Fried is currently confined to his parents’ home in Palo Alto, Calif., on a $250 million bond pending his Oct. 2 trial.
On Monday, his lawyers and prosecutors reached a new deal on revised bail terms, after Kaplan raised the prospect of sending Bankman-Fried to prison pending trial. It came after prosecutors raised concerns that he may have tampered with witnesses.
