US charges Sam Bankman-Fried with bribing Chinese officials

UNITED STATES officials alleged that former FTX chief Sam Bankman-Fried authorised bribes of at least US$40 million to Chinese officials, according to an updated indictment filed on Tuesday (Mar 28).

The payments came after Chinese officials in early 2021 froze some US$1 billion in cryptocurrency trading accounts controlled by FTX affiliate Alameda, according to an amended criminal indictment signed by US attorney Damian Williams.

The move amounts to a 13th criminal charge against the former cryptocurrency highflyer, for “conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act”.

Bankman-Fried has also been charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering as well as election finance violations.

Bankman-Fried, who has pleaded not guilty, is out on bail and living at his parent’s home in California.

FTX and its sister trading house Alameda Research went bankrupt in November, dissolving a virtual trading business that at one point had been valued by the market at US$32 billion.

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The China case stemmed from a move by Chinese authorities to freeze Alameda accounts as part of what Bankman-Fried understood as a probe of an Alameda trading counterparty.

Bankman-Fried and his associates “tried numerous methods” to regain access to the funds, including retaining attorneys and communicating with Chinese exchanges.

After months of setbacks, Bankman-Fried “ultimately agreed to and directed a multi-million-US dollar bribe to seek to unfreeze the accounts,” according to the indictment, adding that the accounts were unfrozen. AFP