The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a complaint to seize over $17.9 million in cryptocurrency in a Binance account linked to former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s alleged bribery of Chinese officials. Prosecutors claim the funds are connected to a November 2021 incident in which Bankman-Fried directed a $40 million USDT transfer to release approximately $1 billion in frozen crypto assets held on Chinese exchanges.
The complaint, filed Tuesday, outlines how Bankman-Fried allegedly facilitated the bribe through FTX’s sister trading firm, Alameda Research, to secure the release of frozen funds. According to prosecutors, after the accounts were unfrozen, Bankman-Fried allegedly approved further payments in cryptocurrency to finalize the bribe. The bribe was reportedly laundered through several private wallets before landing in a Binance deposit account. This account holds various digital assets, including Solana, Cardano, Ripple, Internet Computer, and Avalanche, initially valued at $8.6 million as of December 2023 but currently worth around $17.9 million.
Ongoing Efforts to Repay Creditors Amid Legal Challenges
FTX’s dramatic collapse in November 2022 led to its bankruptcy filing amid allegations of extensive fund mismanagement by Bankman-Fried and his executives. Bankman-Fried, found guilty in November 2023 on all counts of fraud, was sentenced to 25 years in March 2024.
Under the leadership of restructuring specialist John J. Ray III, FTX has been actively working to repay its creditors. In October, FTX’s reorganization plan received court approval, setting a target to repay 98% of creditors with at least 118% of their claim value in cash. Additionally, FTX has pursued legal action to recover funds, recently filing a lawsuit against Binance and its former CEO Changpeng Zhao to reclaim $1.76 billion, alleging the funds were fraudulently transferred.
This latest action by the DOJ further underscores the intense scrutiny on Bankman-Fried’s transactions and the broader efforts by FTX and U.S. authorities to claw back assets lost in one of crypto’s most notorious collapses.
