Sam Bankman-Fried Charged in Chinese Bribery Scheme

An indictment released on Tuesday claims that Sam Bankman-Fried, a disgraced crypto entrepreneur, bribed Chinese officials to reactivate his firm’s accounts in China. Bankman-Fried reportedly paid a bribe of $40 million in November 2021 to the officials, who had frozen the accounts earlier that year during an investigation into one of his trading partners. The prosecutors noted that the bribe payment was successful in reactivating the accounts.

Additional charges were pressed against Bankman-Fried on Tuesday, including conspiracy to breach anti-bribery laws in China. He had already been indicted in December on eight counts, including fraud, money laundering, and illegal donation of campaign funds. Following a plea deal by one of Bankman-Fried’s former colleagues, prosecutors added four new charges last month.

Bankman-Fried has a record of using his businesses to influence regulations. He reportedly donated tens of millions of dollars to political campaigns, mainly to Democrats, to “enhance his personal image in Washington, D.C.” and earn the favour of candidates who could support his companies’ legislation. He had, in the past, donated millions to Republican candidates through other executives in his firms, building bipartisan support in the capital.

Bankman-Fried’s donations have helped him establish a presence in Washington. He has visited the White House four times, engaging with top aides to President Joe Biden to discuss crypto industry regulations. The entrepreneur gave $5 million to a pro-Biden political action committee in 2020 and has asserted that he could offer another $1 billion to support Democrats during the midterms in June 2022. According to Washington Free Beacon, Bankman-Fried gave more than $300,000 to members of the House Financial Services Committee that was in charge of holding hearings on the crypto industry in 2021 and 2022.

Bankman-Fried had been photographed with Maxine Waters (D, Calif.), the senior Democrat on the committee last year.