SBF Faces Renewed $40M Bribe Allegations as Legal Team Appeals Conviction

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is embroiled in renewed accusations of orchestrating a $40 million bribe to Chinese authorities. These allegations resurfaced during his legal team's appeal before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, where they contested his 2023 conviction on seven counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT publicly questioned Bankman-Fried about the alleged hidden transfer, linking it to on-chain evidence from 2023 that traced wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) conversions to USDT through Gate.io. The transaction, dated around November 2021, matched federal prosecutors' claims that the funds were used to unlock approximately $1 billion in frozen crypto assets on Chinese exchanges tied to Alameda Research, FTX's trading arm.

During the appeal hearing, attorney Alexandra Shapiro argued that the trial was fundamentally unfair, accusing Judge Lewis Kaplan of bias and tilting the scale in favor of prosecutors. She emphasized that the jury's verdict—reached in less than five hours—reflected prejudice and that the case was built on emotion rather than evidence, urging for a retrial under a different judge.

Prosecutors maintained that Bankman-Fried directed the bribe after failed legal appeals to regain access to the frozen accounts, contributing to his swift conviction. The reemergence of this scandal underscores ongoing uncertainties in the aftermath of FTX's collapse, keeping the crypto community alert to unresolved legal and ethical issues.