Disgraced FTX CEO and Democrat megadonor Sam Bankman-Fried paid over $40 million in bribes to at least one Chinese government official, the Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged in a new indictment on Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors say that Bankman-Fried and his associates “directed and caused the transfer” of at least $40 million in cryptocurrency “intended for the benefit of one or more Chinese government officials in order to influence and induce them” to unfreeze some accounts belonging to the FTX co-founder’s hedge fund, Alameda Research, according to a report by CNBC.
The Alameda Research accounts were the target of a freezing order from Chinese police “in or around” November 2021, the DOJ says.
