U.S. charges FTX's Bankman-Fried with paying $40 million bribe
U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday unveiled a new indictment against Sam Bankman-Fried, accusing the founder of the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange of paying a $40 million bribe to Chinese officials so they would unfreeze his hedge fund's accounts.
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, is facing a new indictment from US prosecutors for allegedly paying a 40 million dollar bribe to unfreeze his hedge fund's accounts.
This adds to the previous 13-count indictment that had accused Bankman-Fried of stealing billions of dollars in customer funds and orchestrating an illegal donation scheme.
Bankman-Fried, who has pleaded not guilty to eight of the charges, is set to be arraigned in court on Thursday.
The case comes as part of a wider crackdown on alleged abuses at digital asset exchanges by US regulators and prosecutors following last year's drop in cryptocurrency values.