Business
Bankman-Fried charged with paying $40M bribe to China
Samuel Bankman-Fried departs Manhattan federal court in New York on Feb. 9, 2023, in New York. Nishad Singh, a former FTX executive, pleaded guilty Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, to conspiracy and wire fraud charges as part of a deal to cooperate with federal prosecutors building their case against FTX founder Bankman-Fried in what authorities have dubbed one of the biggest frauds in history. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)
By Larry Neumeister in New York
NEW YORK (AP) — FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was charged with directing $40 million in bribes to one or more Chinese officials to unfreeze assets relating to his cryptocurrency business in a newly rewritten indictment unsealed Tuesday.
The charge of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act raises to 13 the number of charges Bankman-Fried faces after he was arrested in the Bahamas in December and brought to the United States soon afterward.
FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, when it ran out of money after the cryptocurrency equivalent of a bank run. He has remained free on a $250 million personal recognizance bond that lets him stay with his parents in Palo Alto, California.
He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he cheated investors out of billions of dollars before his business collapsed.
The alleged bribes stemmed from the operation of Alameda Research, which is affiliated with FTX, Bankman-Fried’s global cryptocurrency exchange.
The indictment said Chinese law enforcement authorities in early 2021 froze certain Alameda cryptocurrency trading accounts on two of China’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges. The accounts, it said, contained about $1 billion in cryptocurrency.
Bankman-Fried understood that the accounts had been frozen by Chinese authoritIes as part of an ongoing probe of a particular Alameda trading counterparty, the indictment said.
After Bankman-Fried failed several attempts to unfreeze the accounts through the use of lawyers and lobbying, Bankman-Fried ultimately agreed to direct a multimillion dollar bribe to try to unfreeze the accounts, the indictment said.
The bribe payment of cryptocurrency then worth about $40 million was moved from Alameda’s main trading account to a private cryptocurrency wallet in November 2021 and the frozen accounts were unfrozen at about the same time, the indictment said.
Meanwhile Tuesday, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers also sent Judge Lewis A. Kaplan a new to limit him to a laptop and a phone and block him from using any other cellphones, tablets, computers, video games or “smart” devices with internet access other than electronic devices owned by his lawyers that he might need to prepare for trial.
Kaplan set a Thursday hearing in the case.
The plan would authorize up to $380 million in incentives, mainly through state transferable tax credits and county bonds to help provide a new home for the Oakland Athletics. The state would forgo up to $180 million in transferable tax credits, with a cap at $36 million per year. The $120 million in county bonds would help with construction costs and be paid off gradually.
The proposal’s price tag and behind-the-scenes negotiations have sparked debate about public subsidies and equity in state economic development efforts.
State lawmakers also are considering billions of dollars in tax credits to bring major film studios to Las Vegas. The governor’s office of economic development has approved hundreds of millions of dollars in tax abatements for Tesla in efforts to broaden Nevada’s tourism and gaming-based economy.
The stadium financing bill was introduced late Friday night after more than a month of speculation, as the A’s move away from Oakland appears increasingly imminent. As of Monday morning, it is already the most-commented on proposal this session with over 1,500 opinions — nearly three-quarters of which are in opposition.
Many proponents say that Las Vegas has an increasing capacity to support major league professional sports, and that bringing the Athletics to the Strip would add sustainable jobs to an area hit especially hard by the pandemic. Opponents say the stadium is not worth hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies to bring another large corporation on the Las Vegas Strip, especially as A’s management has switched proposed locations and drawn out negotiations for how much public assistance they are requesting.
The A’s have been looking for a home to replace the Oakland Coliseum, where the team has played since 1968 after departing Kansas City. The team previously sought to build a stadium in California at Fremont, then San Jose, and finally the Oakland waterfront — ideas that never materialized.
The plan in the Nevada Legislature would not directly raise taxes, meaning it can move forward with a simple majority vote in the state Senate and Assembly.
Lawmakers have until June 5 to act on the proposal, when the four-month legislative session adjourns. Though it could potentially be reviewed later if a special session is called.
Until then, the plan faces an uncertain path. On Thursday, Democratic leaders said financing bills, including for the A’s, may not go through if Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo follows through on threats to veto several Democratic-backed spending bills if his legislative priorities are not addressed.
Canadian Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is hinting that the Liberal government’s online news bill could help the public broadcaster less reliant on advertising dollars. Rodriguez leaves a cabinet meeting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, May 2, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez is hinting that the Liberal government’s online news bill could help the national public broadcaster become less reliant on advertising dollars.
Rodriguez says he has begun reviewing CBC/Radio-Canada’s mandate, including ways the government can provide more funds to the public broadcaster.
Rodriguez’s mandate letter from the prime minister says the goal in providing more money is to eliminate advertising during news and other public affairs shows.
During a House of Commons heritage committee meeting today, Rodriguez says the the CBC will financially benefit from passage of the online news act, also known as C-18.
The bill, being studied in the Senate, would require tech giants to pay Canadian media companies for linking to or otherwise repurposing their content online.
The parliamentary budget officer released a report last year that shows news businesses are expected to receive over $300 million annually from digital platforms when the online news bill becomes law.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 29, 2023.
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