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FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried was hit with four new criminal charges on Thursday in a superseding indictment filed in New York federal court.
A source familar with the new counts said that SBF, as he is popularly known, could face an additional 40 years in prison if convicted in the case.
The new charging document lays out in greater detail Bankman-Fried’s allegedly fradulent conduct related to his cryptocurrency company and an associated hedge fund.
The 12-count indictment also provides new details of political donations that Bankman-Fried allegedly directed in violation of federal campaign finance laws.
The document lays out how Bankman-Fried allegedly operated an illegal straw donor scheme as he moved to use customers funds to run a $40 million political influence campaign.
The indictment claims that Bankman-Fried and his co-conspirators “made over 300 political contributions, totaling tens of millions of dollars, that were unlawful because they were made in the name of a straw donor or paid for with corporate funds.
“To avoid certain contributions being publicly reported in his name, Bankman-Fried conspired to and did have certain political contributions made in the names of two other FTX executives,” the new filing claims.
Former FTX Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces fraud charges over the collapse of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange, exits the Manhattan federal court in New York City, February 16, 2023.
Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
The document refers to one such example, in 2022, when Bankman-Fried and “others agreed that he and his co-conspirators should contribute at least a million dollars to a super PAC that was supporting a candidate running for a United States Congressional seat and appeared to be affiliated with pro-LGBTQ issues.”
The group of conspirators, according to the document, selected an individual only identified in the document as “CC-1” or co-conspirator 1 to be the donor.
However, in 2022, then-FTX director of engineering Nishad Singh contributed $1.1 million to the LGBTQ Victory Fund Federal PAC, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Singh, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
The new indictment was unsealed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where Bankman-Fried was originally charged.
He has pleaded not guilty in the case.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, in a statement on the new indictment said, “We are hard at work and will remain so until justice is done.”
– Additional reporting by CNBC’s Jim Forkin
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