Prosecutors petitioned a New York federal court to seize crypto they alleged is linked to bribes paid to Chinese officials by Sam Bankman-Fried.
United States prosecutors have asked a court for permission to seize crypto allegedly linked to bribes paid to Chinese officials by FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
In a Nov. 12 suit filed in a New York District Court, prosecutors alleged the Binance account — worth about $8.6 million as of Dec. 12, 2023, but since jumping to about $18.5 million due to an uptick across the market — was used to launder funds used for bribes before FTX collapsed in late 2022.
According to the suit, in 2021, Chinese law enforcement froze two of Alameda Research’s accounts on Chinese crypto exchanges that held $1 billion in crypto.