World Crypto Global
- Written by: Solomon Oladipupo
- Thu, 30 Mar 2023
- Israel
<p class="MsoNormal">Sam Bankman-Fried, the embattled Founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, on Thursday pleaded not guilty to new charges from US prosecutors, including bribing Chinese officials with $40 million. The 31-year-old crypto entrepreneur also pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to violate campaign finance regulations through unlawful political donations.</p><p class="MsoNormal text-align-justify">Bankman-Fried Pleads Not Guilty to Campaign Law Violation</p><p class="MsoNormal">On Tuesday, US prosecutors <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/sam-bankman-fried-hit-with-additional-40m-chinese-bribery-charge/" target="_blank" rel="follow">expanded the 12 count of charges</a> against Bankman-Fried to 13, alleging the former FTX CEO in 2021 transferred approximately $40 million in bribes to one or more Chinese officials to unfreeze trading accounts belonging to his hedge fund Alameda Research. The accounts were said to contain $1 billion in cryptocurrency. Prosecutors as a result charged Bankman-Fried with conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.</p><p class="MsoNormal">However, Bankman-Fried on Thursday entered the not-guilty plea through his lawyer Mark Cohen at a hearing held in a Manhattan federal court and presided over by US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, Reuters reports. The former crypto billionaire’s formal trial has been set for October 2nd.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Finance Magnates reported that Bankman-Fried in January <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/ftxs-sam-bankman-fried-pleads-not-guilty-to-us-criminal-charges/">pleaded not guilty</a> to eight counts of charges. He has also been charged with conspiracy to commit wire, bank and securities frauds, to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business and commit money laundering. </p><p class="MsoNormal">Meanwhile, three top members of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/sam-bankman-frieds-two-top-associates-plead-guilty-to-criminal-charges/" target="_blank" rel="follow">have pleaded guilty</a> to criminal charges and are cooperating with prosecutors. These include Caroline Ellison, former Alameda Research CEO; Zixiao ‘Gary’ Wang, FTX Co-Founder; and <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/us-regulators-charge-ftxs-senior-executive-nishad-singh-with-fraud/" target="_blank" rel="follow">Nishad Singh</a>, FTX’s ex-Director of Engineering.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Bankman-Fried and the Fall of FTX</p><p class="MsoNormal">FTX, once the fastest-growing cryptocurrency exchange in the world, <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/ftx-the-rise-the-fall-and-the-reaction/" target="_blank" rel="follow">crumbled last November</a> following a withdrawal frenzy and liquidation crisis spurred by the revelation that Bankman-Fried took billions of dollars of FTX customer funds to prop Alameda Research.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Bankman-Fried was accused of <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/us-cftc-charges-bankman-fried-ftxcom-and-alameda-with-fraud/" target="_blank" rel="follow">causing over $8 billion in losses</a> for FTX investors. However, the digital asset exchange Founder denied stealing customer funds but blamed the collapse of FTX on plunges in the cryptocurrency market.</p><p class="MsoNormal">The FTX Co-Founder was arrested in <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/sam-bankman-fried-arrested-in-the-bahamas-amid-us-criminal-charges/" target="_blank" rel="follow">arrested in December 2022</a> in the Bahamas and was extradited to the United States. He would later be granted bail on <a href="https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/us-court-grants-bail-to-sam-bankman-fried-on-hefty-250m-bond/" target="_blank" rel="follow">a hefty $250 million personal recognizance bond</a> co-signed by his parents who are Standard Law professors.</p> This article was written by Solomon Oladipupo at www.financemagnates.com.
