Former cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried has been hit with another federal charge: bribery.
In a superseding indictment that opened Tuesday, federal prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of bribing a government official in China.
According to the new indictment, Bankman-Fried successfully bribed at least one Chinese government official in 2021 with payments totaling $40 million.
Bankman-Fried is currently awaiting trial after being charged with a host of crimes related to the mismanagement and collapse of FTX, formerly one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency firms, which he co-founded, as well as His hedge fund, Alameda Research.
Lawyers for Bankman-Fried did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment.
The indictment says that after Chinese authorities froze several Alameda accounts worth more than $1 billion, Bankman-Fried directed an employee to pay bribes to at least one government official. The Alameda accounts were held on two major Chinese cryptocurrency exchanges.
“After verifying that the account had not been frozen, Bankman-Fried authorized the transfer of additional hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency to cover the bribe,” it says.
It appears that the alleged bribery was a last resort. The indictment states that Bankman-Fried initially tried several other methods to unfreeze the funds. Those tactics included hiring lawyers to lobby for him in China and opening accounts on Chinese exchanges using the personal information of a number of unknown people who were unaffiliated with his companies.
The bribery charge is the latest in a growing list of criminal charges facing Bankman-Fried. He was first arrested by US authorities in December and extradited to the US from the Bahamas.
He has been charged by the Southern District Court of New York with a variety of crimes, including defrauding investors and committing wire fraud as part of what the Securities and Exchange Commissioner called the “One Year Fraud”.
He has also been accused of making illegal campaign contributions.
Under new leadership, FTX declared bankruptcy and is in the process of reopening the business and recovering its remaining assets.
Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty to eight counts of wire fraud, securities fraud, and conspiracy. He is out on bail under conditions that were recently modified to allow him access to a basic phone and computer.