In a new indictment unsealed Tuesday, officials accused Sam-Bankman Fried of bribing Chinese officials to release frozen assets.
Federal prosecutors have charged Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the former CEO of failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, with attempting to bribe “one or more” Chinese government officials with $40 million, with the goal of freeing up $1 billion. in frozen digital assets belonging to his hedge fund, Alameda Research.
Bankman-Fried already faces eight criminal fraud and conspiracy charges and has yet to be prosecuted on five others. He could face more than 155 years in prison if he is found guilty on all counts: his trial is scheduled for October.
The new accusation v. Bankman-Fried, unsealed by the Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, alleges that Bankman-Fried masterminded fraudulent schemes to steal FTX deposits in order to finance risky bets at Alameda Research. Additionally, SBF contributed to US politicians without proper documentation, all while living in the Bahamas. FTX’s collapse and subsequent bankruptcy left the industry reeling as it was once one of the largest and most trusted exchanges.
SBF remains under house arrest at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California, with restricted movement. Three of his former business partners, including FTX co-founder Gary Wang and Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, have already pleaded guilty to their respective charges.
On Tuesday, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan approved a modification to the terms of Bankman-Fried’s bail to limit her access to the Internet. This movement followed concerns about your use of a virtual private network, which masks the location of an Internet connection. Bankman-Fried will be able to use a VPN only to access a database to help prepare its defense, via a laptop provided by its attorneys under the amendment.
