Embattled crypto executive Sam Bankman-Fried now faces a criminal charge of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
Former FTX Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces fraud charges over the collapse of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, departs from his court hearing at Manhattan federal court in New York City, Jan. 3, 2023.Embattled crypto executive Sam Bankman-Fried now faces an additional criminal charge of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, according to a superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday in the Southern District of New York.
"We will be challenging the new charges when motions are filed," a spokesperson for Bankman-Fried told ABC News.Bankman-Fried allegedly agreed to pay $40 million in cryptocurrency to foreign officials in China so they would unfreeze certain trading accounts on two of China's largest crypto exchanges that belonged to Alameda, according to the superseding indictment.
The accounts had been frozen in 2021 by Chinese authorities as part of an investigation of a certain Alameda trading counterparty. "After the accounts were frozen, Samuel Bankman-Fried, the defendant, and others operating at his direction, considered and tried numerous methods to unfreeze the accounts," the indictment said. "After months of failed attempts to unfreeze the accounts, Samuel Bankman-Fried, the defendant, discussed with others and ultimately agreed to and directed a multi-million dollar bribe to seek to unfreeze the accounts.
The alleged bribe payment was carried out in November 2021, at which time the accounts were unfrozen, prosecutors said, and Bankman-Fried resumed trading with the estimated $1 billion that remained in those accounts.
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