Federal prosecutors added a foreign bribery charge to the growing list of crimes already pending against the FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, according to a new indictment filed in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors said that in 2021 Mr. Bankman-Fried instructed those working for him to pay a bribe of $40 million to one or more Chinese officials to help unfreeze trading accounts maintained by FTX’s sister company, Alameda Research, that held up to $1 billion in cryptocurrencies.
The bribe money was paid to the Chinese officials in cryptocurrency, the document said. The indictment said the effort to pay off the unnamed Chinese officials was successful in getting the trading accounts unfrozen.
With the foreign bribery charge, federal prosecutors have now charged Mr. Bankman-Fried, 31, with 13 criminal counts, including securities fraud, money laundering and violating campaign finance laws. The mounting charges against Mr. Bankman-Fried not only adds years to the potential time in prison he faces if convicted, but could put more pressure on him to take a guilty plea.
A spokesman for Mr. Bankman-Fried did not have an immediate comment on the newest charge. Mr. Bankman-Fried was freed after posting bail but is confined to his parents’ home in Palo Alto, Calif.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan filed the first set of criminal charges against Mr. Bankman-Fried in December, a month after the big cryptocurrency exchange collapsed into bankruptcy. The top charge facing Mr. Bankman-Fried is that he misappropriated billions in customer deposits for his own personal use and to make up for hefty losses incurred by Alameda.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
