Key Takeaways:
- Sam Bankman-Fried has been accused of paying Chinese authorities $40 million in cryptocurrency.
- Bankman-Fried allegedly made an effort to bribe a member of the Chinese government, according to the incitement made public on Wednesday.
Sam Bankman-Fried has been accused of paying $40 million in cryptocurrency to Chinese authorities, according to a new superseding indictment delivered on Wednesday morning. Furthermore, the former FTX founder now has this new allegation added to 12 others already.
Before going insolvent, the CEO of the crypto exchange was accused of conspiring and committing fraud. However, the most recent indictment has revealed that this criminal business went much further than his agreement with the U.S. government.
Indeed, it seems as though the SBF saga will never conclude. The collapse that started in November 2022 still plays out several accusations. Furthermore, what is currently the biggest scandal in the history of the cryptocurrency business has grown into one of the most significant financial crimes in history.
The former CEO is now facing an increasing number of accusations. Sam Bankman-Fried is accused of paying a Chinese official $40 million in cryptocurrency as a bribe. Furthermore, 12 other allegations against the former CEO are now included in this superseding indictment.
Bankman-Fried allegedly made an effort to bribe a member of the Chinese government, according to the incitement made public on Wednesday. The newly emerging charge was detailed in a memo to the judge in charge of the case. Addressing the mounting allegations against him after that. The letter mentioned.
“The S5 indictment, which was unsealed this morning, includes the twelve scouts contained in the S# superseding indictment and an additional count for conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provision of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (‘FCOA’).”
According to the filing, Chinese law enforcement officials allegedly had some Alameda accounts on “two of China’s largest crypto exchanges” have their funds frozen at the beginning of 2021. The founder of FTX was informed of the freeze and made numerous attempts to unfreeze the accounts, including attempting to move cryptocurrency to fictional accounts to get around China’s freeze orders. Noted in the judicial document:
“After months of failed attempts to unfreeze the accounts, Samuel Bankman-Fried discussed with others and ultimately agreed to and directed a multi-million-dollar bribe to seek to unfreeze the accounts”
The U.S. government discovered that after the accounts were unfrozen at SBF’s request, Alameda used unfrozen bitcoin to finance additional Alameda trading activity.
According to that document, Bankman-Fried has not yet been charged with a crime on five currently 13 charges brought against him. Additionally, a pre-trial meeting is scheduled for March 30.
Early in 2021, Alameda may have been using Chinese cryptocurrency exchanges, but as of 2017, China formally forbade the operation of cryptocurrency exchanges there. In September 2021, China put into effect a total ban on cryptocurrencies, as was previously stated.
The criminal trial for FTX founder Bankman-Fried is scheduled for October 2, 2023. He is accused of stealing billions of dollars in FTX client funds processed through Alameda Research. He is also accused of making sizable, illegitimate political contributions. He entered a not-guilty plea to eight felony charges, which, if proven true, carries a maximum sentence of 115 years in jail.
