Alameda Research Accused Of Bribing Chinese Officials To Recover $1 Billion In Exchange Accounts
12 Oktober 2023 - 3:00AM
NEWSBTC
During the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of crypto
exchange FTX, shocking revelations emerged from the testimony of
former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison. According to a
TechCrunch report, Ellison testified that the crypto trading firm
paid Chinese officials to unlock their Alameda trading accounts on
OKX and Huobi in China. Judge Lewis Kaplan clarified that
Bankman-Fried was not charged with bribery in this case. Still, the
evidence was presented to demonstrate trust, confidence, and motive
between Bankman-Fried and Ellison. Alameda Research Former CEO
Exposes Hidden Payments To Chinese Officials According to Ellison’s
testimony, while Bankman-Fried was CEO in 2020, the accounts valued
at approximately $1 billion were frozen. Related Reading:
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Prevail? In November 2021, Bankman-Fried claimed that a colleague,
David Ma, who had connections in China, found a way to unfreeze the
accounts. Ellison, who had become co-CEO of Alameda by then,
made crypto transfers totaling around $100 million to $150 million
to reopen the accounts, unaware that the payments were made to
Chinese officials. Ellison stated that Bankman-Fried and Sam
Trabucco instructed her through a Signal chat to make the payments.
Before the accounts were reopened, Ellison revealed that Alameda
employees explored various strategies to unlock the accounts,
including involving lawyers and government officials. Ellison
testified that they even considered using Thai prostitutes to open
accounts on the exchanges to facilitate fund transfers, but these
efforts were unsuccessful. One Alameda trader, “Handi,” resigned in
early January 2022 due to her objection to paying bribes to Chinese
officials, as her father held a government position.
Courtroom Clash Ellison testified that Handi had a heated argument
with Bankman-Fried about the matter, during which he allegedly told
her to “shut the fuck up.” A month after Handi’s resignation,
Trabucco asked in a Signal chat if Handi’s father had immediately
reported them, to which Bankman-Fried responded with “lol.” Ellison
shared a list with prosecutors containing notes, one of which
referred to a payment of “150m from the thing?” about the money
transferred to regain the accounts. Per the report, Ellison
explained that she did not want to explicitly state in writing that
the payment was made to China to unlock the accounts, fearing that
it could be leaked and used against Alameda Research in court.
Bankman-Fried’s defense lawyer, Mark Cohen, attempted to strike
Ellison’s statement about avoiding written evidence of the
payments, but Judge Kaplan overruled the request. Related Reading:
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Targets The trial continues to uncover new details and allegations,
shedding light on the actions and motivations of the individuals
involved, and the cryptocurrency community eagerly awaits further
developments and the subsequent outcome of the trial. Featured
image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com
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