Failed FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was charged with directing $40million bribe to a Chinese official to unfreeze assets relating to his cryptocurrency business.
In the new charges against the former FTX CEO, he was accuse of paying off a Chinese official to gain access to trading accounts frozen by Chinese authorities. The prosecutor added that the account held by the Chinese government contained over $1billion worth of digital assets that belonged to his trading firm, Alameda Research.
According to the indictment, “In or about November 2021, Samuel Bankman-Fried, a/k/a ‘SBF,’ the defendant, and others directed and caused the transfer of at least approximately $40 million in cryptocurrency intended for the benefit of one or more Chinese officials in order to influence and induce them to unfreeze the Accounts,”
Furthermore, the accounts were released after the payment was transferred in from Alameda’s main trading account to a private cryptocurrency wallet,
The new allegations add up to the fraud case filed last year after FTX’s collapse.
In regard to the allegations, Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to those claims earlier this year.
Also, Bankman-Fried is presently under house arrest at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California, where his movements are heavily restricted with new bail conditions that limits his access to internet and gadgets.