It has been revealed that Sam Bankmanfried, the founder of FTX, the world’s third-largest virtual asset exchange, who filed for bankruptcy protection in November last year, paid 52 billion won in bribes to Chinese officials in the past.
According to the US Wall Street Journal (WSJ) and others, on the 28th (local time), the US District Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), which is investigating the FTX bankruptcy, indicted Bankman Fried for the third time by adding charges of violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’s anti-bribery provisions. . With this, Bankman Fried’s charges have increased to 13, including fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and illegal campaign contributions.
According to SDNY, Bankman Fried paid at least $40 million (approximately 52 billion won) to one or more high-ranking Chinese officials around November 2021 to unlock the virtual currency accounts of FTX subsidiary Alameda Research, which were frozen by Chinese law enforcement authorities. delivered cryptocurrency.
In early 2021, Chinese judicial authorities froze $1 billion (about 1.3 trillion won) worth of Alameda Research virtual currency accounts on two of China’s largest virtual asset exchanges. When an illegal transaction between Alameda Research and its counterparty was discovered, Chinese authorities are known to have launched an investigation.
Over the next few months, attempts were made to unlock the frozen account through lawyers and lobbying against the Chinese authorities, but it was not possible, and it is believed that Bankman Fried paid a large amount of bribes. He opened an account unrelated to FTX or Alameda Research on a Chinese virtual currency exchange to deliver bribes, and transferred $40 million worth of virtual currency. Upon confirming that the account freeze had been lifted, he said that he had additionally transferred tens of millions of dollars worth of virtual currency.
The Chinese embassy in the US and Bankman Fried declined to comment, the WSJ reported. The full-fledged Bankman Fried trial is scheduled to begin in October.
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.