FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Charged with $40M Bribe to Chinese Officials

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, has been charged by US prosecutors with conspiring to bribe Chinese government officials with $40m worth of payments. The bribe was allegedly directed to unfreeze accounts belonging to his hedge fund, Alameda Research, that Chinese authorities had frozen. The new charge increases the pressure on Bankman-Fried, who had previously pleaded not guilty to eight counts over the collapse of FTX. Prosecutors say Bankman-Fried stole billions of dollars in customer funds to plug losses at Alameda.