After Greasing Palms on Both Sides of the Aisle in The US, FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried Now Stands Accused of Bribing the Chinese

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FTX's disgraced former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), appears to be quite the connoisseur when it comes to getting his way by greasing palms, a proclivity that is likely to have played an important role in perpetuating the cycle of fraud at FTX and its sister hedge fund, Alameda Research.

* U.S. ACCUSES BANKMAN-FRIED IN THE NEW BRIBERY CONSPIRACY CHARGE OF DIRECTING THE TRANSFER OF AT LEAST $40 MLN OF CRYPTOCURRENCY TO BENEFIT CHINESE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS@reuters #FTX

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) March 28, 2023

To wit, federal prosecutors in Manhattan have unveiled a fresh 13-count indictment against Sam Bankman-Fried, alleging that the disgraced former CEO paid $40 million in bribes via an assortment of cryptocurrencies to the Chinese.

U.S. Attorney files superseding indictments against SBF

The indictment includes allegations of steering tens of millions of dollars of illegal campaign contributions, and also conspiracy to bribe one or more Chinese government officialshttps://t.co/sH1AtUeelJ

— JC Oviedo (@JCOviedo6) March 28, 2023

On page 13 of today's indictment, Manhattan prosecutors detail that in early 2021, the Chinese law enforcement authorities froze certain accounts that Alameda Research held on the two largest cryptocurrency exchanges in China. These accounts collectively held around $1 billion in cryptocurrencies. After months of trying to have the accounts unfrozen, Sam Bankman-Fried then authorized $40 million in bribes to key Chinese officials in this saga. The payments were made in various cryptocurrencies that were withdrawn from Alameda's main wallet.

Of course, this