More Bad News for SBF

If indictments were worth money, Sam Bankman-Fried might be accumulating enough of them to fix the failure of FTX. Feds on Tuesday announced that they've indicted the erstwhile 31-year-old billionaire on charges of conspiring to bribe Chinese government officials to unlock some $1 billion in cryptocurrency held by his Alameda Research hedge fund. That bribe was apparently a hefty one, per Reuters: $40 million in crypto. As CNBC reports, the bribe was "intended for the benefit of one or more Chinese government officials in order to influence and induce them."

Prosecutors say that SBF paid the money out in November 2021 and used the unlocked proceeds to continue funding his house of cards until it collapsed in November 2022. Bankman-Fried is being charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which outlawed US citizens from bribing foreign officials in the name of business. He's due back in court on Thursday for the latest arraignment; at that point, the judge may modify his $250 million bail deal. Bankman-Fried is currently under house arrest at mom and dad's house in Palo Alto, California. (More Sam Bankman-Fried stories.)