Disgraced cryptocurrency wunderkind, Sam Bankman-Fried, has now been accused of paying at least one Chinese official a $40 million bribe to unfreeze assets held in China by his Alameda Research hedge fund.
Forbes reports that Bankman-Fried now faces a charge of conspiring to violate the anti-bribery section of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.Â
This is only the latest development in Bankman-Fried's legal woes. In December 2022, Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas following the stunning collapse of his FTX cryptocurrency trading platform and hedge fund.
The New York Times reported at the time that the former crypto king, 30, is facing multiple federal charges, including wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering.Â
Furthermore, celebrities like Tom Brady and Steph Curry have been named in a civil lawsuit citing Bankman-Fried and his famous brand ambassadors.
These well-known individuals, though, are not named in the criminal indictment.Â
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan scheduled a court hearing for today, Thursday, March 28, after prosecutors asked for Bankman-Fried to be arraigned on the new, 13-count indictment pertaining to the bribery incident.
Bankman-Fried is presently under house arrest at his parents' Palo Alto, California residence. He was released on $250 million bond pending his October 2 trial for the original charges against him.
On Monday of this week, Bankman-Fried's defense attorneys and the prosecution team reached a new agreement on revised bail conditions. This came after Judge Kaplan considered sending him to jail following prosecutors' concerns that he may have tampered with witnesses.
This is a breaking story that will be updated.
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