Sam Bankman-Fried Faces New Criminal Charge for Bribing Chinese Officials for as much as $40M

The infamous former CEO of FTX is facing another criminal charge to his name, for his alleged actions of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of the United States when he bribed Chinese officials. The purpose of his alleged bribe was to unfreeze his Alameda Research-owned trading accounts, paying as much as $40 million in cryptocurrency.

This comes in the updated indictment by a federal grand jury in New York, adding to the list of charges against him including fraud, commodities fraud, making unlawful political contributions, and more.

Sam Bankman-Fried Faces New Criminal Charges for Bribery

The latest superseding indictment in Sam Bankman-Fried's case centers on a new charge against him, with claims of alleged bribery to Chinese officials in violation of the FCPA. The new charge centers on the $40 million equivalent in cryptocurrency to unfreeze a trading account back in November 2021, with a total of 13 charges to SBF.

It was said that SBF "authorized and directed a bribe of at least $40 million to one or more Chinese government officials."

This was the solution that SBF's camp allegedly went with after trying to recover the frozen assets, with different actions including creating "fraudulent accounts" to which they would try to transfer the funds.

After every possible action was unsuccessful, the company resorted to bribing the officials to gain access to Alameda Research's crypto holdings.

$40M Sent to Chinese Officials to Unfreeze Trading Account

The updated indictment claims that this bribe "was to influence and induce one or more Chinese government officials to unfreeze certain Alameda trading accounts containing over $1 billion in cryptocurrency, which had been frozen by Chinese authorities."

According to Ars Technica, the court documents claim that after the bribe has been made to this certain private wallet, the Alameda accounts were immediately unfrozen, giving access to the executive.

Sam Bankman-Fried and the FTX Lawsuit

FTX announced its bankruptcy several months ago, and this was also the time when its former CEO and co-founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, announced his resignation from his post. After this event, things took a downward spiral for the company and its executives, with the pointing of fingers and uncovering of massive controversies behind its downfall.

There were many charges filed against SBF, even from his former company which suffered from the loss of funds that were allegedly lost ahead of its bankruptcy announcements. Still, while other executives from the company admitted their wrongdoings, Bankman-Fried stood out as he pleaded "not guilty" to the many charges against his name.

The courts are now in pursuit of this case against the former executive, even limiting his use of communication devices to flip phones without internet connectivity.

In the latest development to the FTX and Bankman-Fried case, claims of bribery that took place in 2021 paid to Chinese officials adds another charge to SBF's case, one that would be proven in the coming proceedings of the suit.