Caroline Ellison, the former romantic partner of Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX and former CEO of Alameda Research, claimed in her courtroom testimony that SBF bribed Chinese officials with a $150 million bribe to unfreeze $1 billion in funds locked in local exchanges. These funds, belonging to Alameda Research, were frozen on cryptocurrency exchanges Huobi and OKX due to a 2021 money laundering probe initiated by Chinese authorities.
Ellison testified that SBF ordered her and other FTX employees to delete all messages related to the issue sent via the encrypted messaging app Signal. Before resorting to bribing Chinese officials, they attempted to hire a local lawyer in China to assist with negotiations. When this approach failed, Ellison claimed that SBF attempted to access the funds through the wallets of other individuals, including Thai sex workers. These attempts involved imbalanced trades between different accounts.
The trial, which began on October 3, includes seven charges of fraud against SBF. A second trial scheduled for March 2024 will involve additional charges, including bank fraud and foreign bribery conspiracy. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The trial is ongoing, and Cointelegraph is providing updates on the case.