Justice accuses Bankman-Fried of bribing Chinese officials

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York charged the co-founder of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange company FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, with bribing Chinese officials. Specifically, the federal court claims that the businessman transferred at least $40 million in cryptocurrency to the beneficiaries.

In doing so, the indictment stated that Bankman-Fried violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). This regulation, enacted in 1977, makes it illegal for "certain classes of persons and entities to make payments to foreign government officials to assist them in obtaining or retaining business.” In addition, he asked the investigating judge in the case, Lewis Kaplan, to set up a hearing to prosecute the FTX co-founder.

In an indictment, the U.S. Attorney's Office explained that Bankman-Fried made the bribe to unfreeze the accounts that Alameda Research, a company associated with FTX, held in China. In these accounts, the businessman had about $1 billion in cryptocurrency.

Thirteen criminal indictments against Bankman-Fried

This brings the number of criminal charges against Bankman-Fried to 13. The charges include fraud, conspiracy, money laundering and violation of federal laws. On December 13, 2022, authorities arrested him in the Bahamas and extradited him eight days later.

On December 23 he was released on bail. His lawyers came to an agreement with the courts that Bankman-Fried would appear in court whenever ordered to do so. He was also ordered to pay a $250 million fine and put on house arrest at his parents' home.

Democratic Party Megadonor

Bankman-Fried's loyalty to the Democratic Party is well known. During the midterm election campaign, he was one of the largest donors to Joe Biden's party.

FTX's founder and former chief executive officer contributed nearly $95,000 in donations to members of the House Financial Services Committee prior to the November 2022 elections. Specifically, 11 Democratic members of this committee benefited from Bankman-Fried's generosity.