Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried Faces New Bribery Charges for Alleged Crypto Payment to Chinese Officials

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the former CEO of FTX, now faces a 13-count indictment as U.S. officials have added new charges. One of the new charges alleges that SBF leveraged $40 million to influence “one or more Chinese government officials.”

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the co-founder and former CEO of FTX, now faces charges of bribing Chinese government officials. “Bankman-Fried and others agreed to pay cryptocurrency to one or more foreign officials in China to influence and induce them to unfreeze the accounts in order to assist Bankman-Fried, Alameda, and others in obtaining and retaining business for, and directing business to, Bankman-Fried, Alameda, and others,” the revised indictment states.

This is not the first time SBF’s indictment has been revised. In February 2023, Bitcoin.com News reported that SBF’s indictment was revised to include bank fraud charges. SBF faces other charges as well, including defrauding the Federal Election Commission (FEC), wire fraud, and securities fraud. The former FTX CEO has pleaded not guilty to the charges, but three of the firm’s top deputies have pleaded guilty and are cooperating with federal prosecutors.

The revised filing indicates that Chinese officials reportedly seized two accounts owned by Alameda Research, SBF’s quantitative trading arm, which were allegedly held on “two of China’s largest crypto exchanges” in 2021. Once again, the revised indictment does not include any other defendants, and Sam Bankman-Fried is the only individual named.

With the addition of bank fraud charges last month and newly added bribery charges, SBF now faces a total of 13 charges from the Department of Justice in New York. He also faces lawsuits filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

What do you think about the new charges SBF faces? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.