Federal prosecutors in Manhattan accused Bankman-Fried of directing the transfer of at least $40 million of cryptocurrency to benefit Chinese government officials.
They said Bankman-Fried directed the bribe in order to unfreeze accounts belonging to his hedge fund, Alameda Research, that Chinese authorities had frozen. The accounts held more than $1 billion of cryptocurrency, US prosecutors said.
The accounts were unfrozen after the bribe payment was transferred around November 2021 from Alameda’s main trading account to a private cryptocurrency wallet, according to the new indictment.
After the accounts were unfrozen, Bankman-Fried authorised a transfer of tens of millions of dollars of additional cryptocurrency to complete the bribe, prosecutors said.
A spokesman for Bankman-Fried did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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US District Judge Lewis Kaplan scheduled a court hearing for Thursday after prosecutors asked for Bankman-Fried to be arraigned on the new, 13-count indictment. The new charge increases the pressure on the 31-year-old former billionaire, who had previously pleaded not guilty to eight counts over the collapse of FTX. Prosecutors say Bankman-Fried stole billions of dollars in customer funds to plug losses Alameda.
Prosecutors last month unveiled four new counts against Bankman-Fried, accusing him of orchestrating an illegal campaign donation scheme to buy influence in Washington. He has not yet been arraigned on the new charges.
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