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FTX's disgraced former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), appears to be quite the connoisseur when it comes to getting his way by greasing palms, a proclivity that is likely to have played an important role in perpetuating the cycle of fraud at FTX and its sister hedge fund, Alameda Research.

* U.S. ACCUSES BANKMAN-FRIED IN THE NEW BRIBERY CONSPIRACY CHARGE OF DIRECTING THE TRANSFER OF AT LEAST $40 MLN OF CRYPTOCURRENCY TO BENEFIT CHINESE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS@reuters #FTX

— Carl Quintanilla (@carlquintanilla) March 28, 2023

To wit, federal prosecutors in Manhattan have unveiled a fresh 13-count indictment against Sam Bankman-Fried, alleging that the disgraced former CEO paid $40 million in bribes via an assortment of cryptocurrencies to the Chinese.

U.S. Attorney files superseding indictments against SBF

The indictment includes allegations of steering tens of millions of dollars of illegal campaign contributions, and also conspiracy to bribe one or more Chinese government officialshttps://t.co/sH1AtUeelJ

— JC Oviedo (@JCOviedo6) March 28, 2023

On page 13 of today's indictment, Manhattan prosecutors detail that in early 2021, the Chinese law enforcement authorities froze certain accounts that Alameda Research held on the two largest cryptocurrency exchanges in China. These accounts collectively held around $1 billion in cryptocurrencies. After months of trying to have the accounts unfrozen, Sam Bankman-Fried then authorized $40 million in bribes to key Chinese officials in this saga. The payments were made in various cryptocurrencies that were withdrawn from Alameda's main wallet.

Of course, this is just the latest in what appears to be the modus operandi of Sam Bankman-Fried: when in doubt, bribe.

As we detailed in a previous post, the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) has already charged Sam Bankman-Fried with the conspiracy to make unlawful political contributions and defraud the Commission. Specifically, SBF allegedly used straw donors to evade contribution limits. The pertinent indictment alleges that Sam Bankman-Fried made over 300 illegal political contributions worth over $10 million.

BREAKING: FTX is sending letters to politicians who received donations from FTX to return the money they received.

There was not a list of the politicians they gave money to, and the amounts.

Until now.

See it here:https://t.co/uK8CTsLugJ pic.twitter.com/JnN2j8VFDL

— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) February 5, 2023

Unusual Whales has compiled an exhaustive list of legislators who benefitted from Sam Bankman-Fried's financial largesse. As is evident from the tweet above, both Republicans and Democrats have received such contributions from SBF.

For those who might be unaware, the crypto exchange FTX maintained an undisclosed symbiotic relationship with Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto trading arm, Alameda Research, replete with commingled funds at the Silvergate bank, which allowed Alameda the convenience of borrowing FTX client funds after posting collateral in the form of illiquid tokens, including FTX's in-house FTT coin. This gig ended when Alameda's outsized exposure to the FTT token became public knowledge in early November, prompting Binance to dump its own FTT holdings, collapsing the token's price. Amid this fracas, the then-CEO of Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison, gave away the trading firm's floor price on the FTT token, inviting a veritable onslaught of speculative attacks. With Alameda's ability to pay off its liabilities impaired as its collateral of illiquid tokens quickly lost their inflated values, and with surging client withdrawals resulting in a bank run, FTX had no choice, in the end, to declare bankruptcy.