Former FTX Boss’s Massive Bribes to Chinese Officials bigger than expected
Bankman-Fried’s ex’s revelations likely to spur Beijing manhunt
By: Toh Han Shih
It is safe to assume that there is a new manhunt on in China after explosive testimony in a New York courtroom by the former girlfriend of disgraced crypto king Samuel Bankman-Fried, that his struggling cryptocurrency exchange paid US$150 million in bribes to unnamed Chinese officials to unfreeze US$1 billion accounts sequestered in a Chinese money laundering investigation.
If the allegations of bribery of Chinese officials are true, Bankman-Fried, a US citizen, is liable under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), a US law which penalizes individuals and companies with US connections for bribing officials of other nations. In June, the US Department of Justice withdrew a charge of violating FCPA against Bankman-Fried. Now with the testimony of his former lover Caroline Ellison, it is possible that FCPA charges may be reinstated against Bankman-Fried, who faces another trial in a US court on bribery charges next year.
“There was talk about the FCPA,” testified Ellison, a former chief executive officer (CEO) of Alameda Research, a now-defunct cryptocurrency trading firm co-founded by Bankman-Fried…