Additional Charges Against FTX Founder: Tens of Millions of Dollars in Bribes to China

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the virtual asset exchange FTX, has been additionally indicted for giving tens of millions of dollars in bribes to Chinese officials. The number of criminal charges against Bankman-Fried has increased to a total of 13.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

The United States Southern District of New York Federal Prosecutors on the 28th (local time) filed a new indictment with the court adding charges that Bankman-Fried violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act's bribery prohibition provisions.

This is the third indictment against Bankman-Fried following the collapse of FTX. In addition to the 12 charges previously listed in the indictment, including fraud, money laundering, and illegal campaign contributions, a new bribery charge has been added.

According to the indictment, Bankman-Fried is accused of giving virtual assets worth at least $40 million (approximately 52 billion KRW) as bribes to at least one Chinese official in 2021 to lift the freeze imposed by Chinese law enforcement authorities on some accounts of Alameda Research, an FTX affiliate, at two Chinese virtual asset exchanges. The accounts in question belonged to Alameda Research, the affiliate behind FTX's bankruptcy, and contained virtual assets worth approximately $1 billion.

The prosecution explained in the indictment that Bankman-Fried and his colleagues considered "numerous methods" to lift the freeze on the accounts. After legal and lobbying efforts all failed, Bankman-Fried is understood to have decided to deliver these bribes.

Until now, Bankman-Fried has denied the charges of fraud and others brought against him. After being arrested in the Bahamas following the collapse of FTX in November last year, Bankman-Fried was extradited to the United States in January this year. He was then released on bail and placed under house arrest at his parents' home in Palo Alto, California. A hearing on the conditions of Bankman-Fried's bail is scheduled for the 30th.