Sam Bankman-Fried accused of Chinese bribe

Sam Bankman-Fried, caput of failed crypto steadfast FTX, has been accused of bribing astatine slightest 1 Chinese official.

In caller charges unveiled successful the US, officials impeach the crypto entrepreneur of authorising a bribe of "at slightest $40m" (£32.5m) to effort to summation entree to trading accounts frozen by Chinese authorities.

The allegations adhd to the fraud lawsuit that US authorities unveiled past twelvemonth aft the illness of FTX.

Mr Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty.

He is presently nether location apprehension astatine his parents' location successful California portion awaiting trial.

The updated indictment says Mr Bankman-Fried authorised the bribe aft Chinese authorities froze accounts holding astir $1bn (£811m) worthy of cryptocurrency that belonged to his trading firm, Alameda.

The accounts were released aft the transfer, which went to a backstage cryptocurrency wallet.