US charges disgraced crypto founder Sam Bankman-Fried for bribing Chinese officials

United States officials on Tuesday (March 28) charged former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried over authorising bribes of at least $40 million to Chinese officials.

The charge was added to 12 counts already faced by the former FTX chief. The 13th criminal charge against him is for "conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act."

An updated indictment showed that the payments came after Chinese officials in early 2021 froze some $1 billion in cryptocurrency trading accounts controlled by FTX affiliate Alameda, which is FTX’s sister company.

FTX and its trading house Alameda Research went bankrupt in November last year after it was unable to meet withdrawal demands from customers. It dissolved a virtual trading business that at one point had been valued by the market at $32 billion.

In December, Bankman-Fried was extradited from his home in the Bahamas and was charged with eight criminal counts over what prosecutors described as "one of the biggest financial frauds in American history".

However, the case was broadened by the government against Bankman-Fried last month to include charges of securities fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

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Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to a raft of fraud charges in the wake of FTX's collapse in November. He is out on bail and living at his parent's home in California.

According to the indictment, Bankman-Fried and associates "tried numerous methods" to regain access to the funds, including retaining attorneys and communicating with Chinese exchanges.

It added that after months of setbacks, Bankman-Fried "ultimately agreed to and directed a multi-million-dollar bribe to seek to unfreeze the accounts".

(With inputs from agencies)

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