Prosecutors asked a New York federal court to freeze accounts and confiscate cryptocurrency they believe was linked to bribes paid by Sam Bankman-Fried to Chinese officials.
In 2021, Chinese law enforcement authorities froze two Alameda Research accounts on Chinese cryptocurrency exchanges. At that time, Alameda wallets held about $1 billion in digital currencies. After receiving “financial compensation” from FTX amounting to approximately $40 million, Alameda Research’s funds were unblocked and withdrawn from China.
The lawsuit alleges that Bankman-Fried paid the bribe to Chinese officials in two installments: $28 million in USDT stablecoins before and another $12 million in USDT after the frozen wallets were released. The funds were debited from Bankman-Fried’s account on the Binance exchange, which, according to investigators, was purposefully used for illegal transactions, money laundering and bribes.
According to the prosecutor’s office, the current balance of Bankman-Fried’s account on the Binance exchange exceeds $18 million. In addition, five deposit accounts are linked to it, which were allegedly used to “conceal or disguise illegal transactions.” The current balance of deposit accounts is not specified.
Previously, the former CEO of Alameda Research Sam Trabucco agreed to transfer a number of his own real estate assets to the liquidation commission of the bankrupt FTX crypto exchange to compensate for financial losses to creditors.
Source: Bits
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