US bids to seize Bankman-Fried’s crypto allegedly used in China bribes
2024-11-13

United States prosecutors have asked a court for permission to seize crypto allegedly linked to bribes paid to Chinese officials by FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
In a Nov. 12 suit filed in a New York District Court, prosecutors alleged the Binance account — worth about $8.6 million as of Dec. 12, 2023, but since jumping to about $18.5 million due to an uptick across the market — was used to launder funds used for bribes before FTX collapsed in late 2022.
According to the suit, in 2021, Chinese law enforcement froze two of Alameda Research’s accounts on Chinese crypto exchanges that held $1 billion in crypto.
On Nov. 16, 2021, they alleged Bankman-Fried sent a $40 million Tether USDTUSD bribe to a private wallet, and Alameda’s accounts were unfrozen soon after.
“After confirmation the accounts were unfrozen, Bankman-Fried authorized additional payments to be made in the amount of tens of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency to complete the bribe,” prosecutors said.
US authorities said the account they want access to was set up on Nov. 9, 2023, and had five deposit accounts linked to it, which were used to “conceal or disguise” what they alleged was the bribe paid by Bankman-Fried.
According to prosecutors, the account had a regular “flow of incoming deposits and outgoing withdrawals” while the five wallets received “nearly daily” deposits of Bitcoin BTCUSD and stablecoins, which were then converted into other cryptocurrencies. 
Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, said in testimony that the total bribe paid was around $150 million. 
On Dec. 21, 2023, during Bankman-Fried’s trial, the account was seized on the orders of Judge Lewis Kaplan. 
Prosecutors say the account still holds Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), XRP (XRP), internet Computer (IC) and Avalanche (AVAX).
Following the collapse of FTX in 2022, Bankman-Fried faced a jury trial and was convicted of seven felony counts. On March 28, Judge Kaplan sentenced him to 25 years behind bars. 
He originally faced six additional charges, including bank fraud and foreign bribery conspiracy charges connected to the allegations he bribed Chinese officials, but they were dropped. 
On Sept. 13, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers filed an appeal arguing the FTX founder wasn’t treated fairly at trial.