DOJ targets $16 million in Binance account tied to Sam Bankman-Fried foreign bribery case DOJ targets $16 million in Binance account tied to Sam Bankman-Fried foreign bribery case
US authorities strike at Binance account amid extensive hunt for $3 billion in FTX assets.
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Updated: Nov. 13, 2024 at 2:16 pm UTC
Cover art/illustration via CryptoSlate. Image includes combined content which may include AI-generated content.
The US Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a civil forfeiture complaint to seize approximately $16 million in assets from a Binance account connected to an FTX bribery case, according to a Nov. 12 court filing.
The Binance account, created in November 2023, contains various digital assets, including Internet Computer (ICP), Avalanche (AVAX), Ripple (XRP), Cardano (ADA), and Solana (SOL).
The account reportedly received deposits in stablecoins and Bitcoin almost daily, which were swiftly converted to other assets.
Chinese bribe
According to the DOJ, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried allegedly approved a $40 million bribe to Chinese officials in November 2021.
This bribe aimed to unfreeze Alameda Research’s crypto trading accounts on two exchanges in China, which law enforcement authorities had frozen. The filing stated that these accounts held an estimated $1 billion in crypto.
Once the accounts were unfrozen, Bankman-Fried authorized “tens of millions of dollars in crypto” payments to finalize the bribe. The funds were then laundered through multiple private wallets to obscure the payments’ origins and intentions.
Investigators eventually traced these funds from private wallets to the implicated Binance account.
Meanwhile, the bribery allegations, originally part of Bankman-Fried’s indictment, formed one of thirteen, charging him with conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. That charge was later separated from the main trial that led to his conviction.
Over $3 billion in recovery efforts
This DOJ filing marks another chapter in the pursuit to recover over $3 billion in assets linked to FTX-related criminal activity.
In recent weeks, FTX has initiated several lawsuits to accelerate its fund recovery mission. The firm filed actions against Binance and Changpeng Zhao for $1.8 billion and against Waves founder Aleksandr Ivanov for $90 million.
Further, another of the exchange suits targets the creators of Storybook Brawl, a video game that Bankman-Fried supported. FTX further pursued a significant clawback action against Nawaaz Mohammad Meerun, known as “Humpy the Whale,” alleging that he caused over $1 billion in market manipulation-related losses.
Other cases target FTX’s political donations and public figures, including former White House official Anthony Scaramucci and famous marketer Neil Patel.
Combined, these legal actions represent claims exceeding $3 billion. However, an advocate for FTX creditors, known as Mr. Purple on X, expressed skepticism about full recovery.
He noted that the defunct firm often settles for a fraction of the claim amount—typically 10% to 20%— and suggested it would be surprising if recoveries reached even $0.5 billion from these efforts.
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Oluwapelumi Adejumo
Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.
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Solana is a high-performance blockchain platform that utilizes a unique consensus algorithm called “Proof of History” to achieve fast transaction speeds and low fees.
Cardano
$0.94870
Cardano is a decentralized public blockchain and cryptocurrency project and is fully open source.
XRP
$2.28768
The XRP Ledger is a decentralized cryptographic ledger powered by a network of peer-to-peer servers.
Avalanche
$39.7877
Avalanche is an umbrella platform for launching decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, financial assets, trading and other services.
FTX
FTX is a defunct cryptocurrency exchange, currently in bankruptcy proceedings, that was founded by Sam Bankman-Fried and Zixiao “Gary” Wang in May 2019.
Binance
Binance is a global cryptocurrency exchange that provides a platform for trading more than 100 cryptocurrencies.
Sam Bankman-Fried is the former CEO, and co-founder of defunct crypto exchange FTX and Alameda Research.
Anthony Scaramucci is an acclaimed American entrepreneur and political consultant, making headlines for his fleeting role as the White House Director of Communications from July 21 to July 31, 2017.