Carolina Ellison testified that Sam Bankman-Fried arranged a $150 million bribe to Chinese officials to unfreeze $1 billion in Alameda Research funds frozen on Huobi and OKX after a money-laundering probe. Ellison also said SBF ordered employees to delete Signal messages about it.
Carolina Lisson, the former romantic partner of embattled FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried and former CEO of Alameda Research, claimed in her courtroom testimony that SBF bribed Chinese officials for millions of dollars to unfreeze funds locked in local exchanges. In her Oct. 11 testimony, Ellison claimed $1 billion in funds were locked up in China, and then to access them, Alameda paid a $150 million bribe to Chinese government officials. The funds, which belonged to Alameda Research, were frozen on the cryptocur currency exchanges Huobi and Okx following a 2021 money laundering probe opened by Chinese authorities. Ellison testified that Bankman Fried ordered her and other FTX employees to delete all related messages sent via the encrypted messaging app signal. When questioned on how the accounts were ultimately unfrozen, Alison said she thought they were unfrozen after Alameda paid the brine. For all the latest crypto news and updates, subscribe to the official Cointelegraph YouTube channel.
