Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison testified in court that she and several executives at FTX and Alameda “paid large bribes to Chinese officials” to unlock funds locked on Chinese exchanges.
Ellison testified that about $1 billion worth of SBF accounts were frozen when he was CEO in 2020, and after the FTX/Alameda team initially failed to negotiate with the Chinese government through lawyers to unlock the funds, they then tried to negotiate a deal involving the creation of A plan to free funds from a fake exchange account named after a “Thai prostitute” failed again. Ultimately, the funds were secured after Ellison paid $100 million into a crypto account that she learned was somehow connected to Chinese government officials.
