Sam Bankman-Fried Hit with Five New Federal Charges, Pleads Not Guilty

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of disgraced crypto company FTX, has been hit with five additional federal charges to which he has pleaded not guilty.

The charges, according to CNN, involve fraud and conspiracy including one count of conspiring to bribe Chinese government officials with $40 million worth of cryptocurrency. This marks the 13th criminal charge against Bankman-Fried in what is described by prosecutors as one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history.

Bankman-Fried allegedly attempted the bribery in an attempt to unfreeze trading accounts connected to his cryptocurrency hedge fund, Alameda Research. “Bankman-Fried and his associates considered and tried “numerous methods” to unfreeze the accounts, which contained around $1 billion worth of cryptocurrency, prosecutors allege. Ultimately, after both legal and personal efforts failed, Bankman-Fried agreed to and directed a multimillion-dollar bribe to have the frozen accounts unlocked, prosecutors alleged,” CNBC reported.

The other charges Bankman-Fried is facing relate to bank fraud, money laundering, operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and making political contributions in the U.S., per CNBC.

Bankman-Fried’s trial is scheduled to begin in October.