FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried charged with bribing Chinese officials
The founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX now faces a total of 13 charges as his lawyers prepare an effort to ease bail restrictions.
Tuesday 28 March 2023 19:56, UK
Former FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces fraud charges over the collapse of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, walks from the Manhattan federal court after securing bail in New York City, U.S. December 22, 2022. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon
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Former FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried is seen leaving the Manhattan federal court after a bail hearing in December
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Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been charged with bribing Chinese officials with payments of at least $40m (£32.4m).
Prosecutors have accused him of directing the payment to unfreeze accounts belonging to his hedge fund linked to FTX.
The accounts of his trading firm Alameda Research, which Chinese authorities had frozen, are said to have held more than $1bn (£812m) in cryptocurrency.
Prosecutors claimed they were unfrozen after the alleged bribe payment was made around November 2021.
Bankman-Fried is accused of transferring tens of millions of dollars worth of extra crypto to complete the bribe.
The 31-year-old has already pleaded not guilty to eight counts over the collapse of FTX last year.
It ran out of money on 11 November after the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank run.
Prosecutors say Bankman-Fried stole billions of dollars in customer funds to plug losses in Alameda.
He faces a total of 13 charges.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves court following his extradition to the U.S., Thursday, Dec. 22, 2022, in New York. Bankman-Fried's parents agreed to sign a $250 million bond and keep him at their California home while he awaits trial on charges that he swindled investors and looted customer deposits on his FTX trading platform. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)1:11
Play Video – Sam Bankman-Fried leaves court on $250m bail
December: Bankman-Fried leaves court on $250m bail
They include four counts which accuse him of orchestrating an illegal campaign donation scheme to buy influence in Washington DC.
A spokesman for Bankman-Fried declined to comment on the latest charges.
Read more:
British investor who lost £1m in FTX collapse among 13 people to make fraud reports to police
He is due in court in Thursday in New York.
The fallen tycoon has resided with his parents in Palo Alto, California, since December, but under strict restrictions governing communication as part of his $250m bail package.
His lawyers have agreed to limit him to a laptop and a phone and block him from using any other phones, tablets, computers, video games or “smart” devices with internet access.
That, however, excludes other electronic devices owned by his lawyers that he might need to prepare for trial.
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