Business News Report
August 01, 2023

$40M Bribery Allegations Involving Sam Bankman-Fried and Chinese Government Uncovered in Onchain Investigation

In Brief

Crypto Twitter influencer DeFiSquared conducted an on-chain investigation of the Multichain exploiter address.

DeFiSquared found that one of the addresses that deposited funds into the exploiter address also received a $40 million USDT transaction from FTX in November 2021.

This transaction is allegedly linked to the $40 million that Sam Bankman-Fried is being accused of bribing the Chinese government with in November 2021.

Cryptocurrency Twitter influencer DeFiSquared has conducted an onchain investigation of the Multichain exploiter’s address that has exposed a potentially massive bribery scandal involving Sam Bankman-Fried and the Chinese government.

$40M Bribery Allegations Involving Sam Bankman-Fried and Chinese Government Uncovered in Onchain Investigation

The investigation began when DeFiSquared traced the movement of funds from the tagged Multichain exploiter address, identified as 0x622e5. In the last 24 hours, this address transferred over 1000 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) to a new address 0x3c74b, which then swiftly converted the WBTC to USDT.

That address 0x3c74b has been laundering the funds by using a Gate IO account with the deposit address 0x96345. One of the most notable sources of funds is the address 0x24f42, which has seen a large flow of USDT from address 0x3e4b7. This very address, 0x24f42, previously received a 40 million USDT transaction from collapsed crypto exchange FTX.

DeFiSquared recalled recent accusations that SBF tried bribing the Chinese government with precisely $40 million in or around November 2021, a sum matching the transaction received by address 0x24f42 in the same month.

On Jul 7, Multichain ceased operations after suffering an exploit that led to a loss of $126 million, with nearly $120 million coming from Multichain’s Fantom bridge, according to Chainalysis. A week later, Multichain CEO Zhaojun was taken away by the Chinese police and her computers, phones, hardware wallets, and mnemonic phrases were all confiscated by the authorities.

Subsequently, rumours began to swirl regarding the Chinese government possibly holding Multichain funds. DeFiSquared believes that the trail of funds unveiled during his on-chain investigation seems to confirm those rumors and that the recent liquidation of the funds raises suspicions that the authorities have no intention of returning them.

(Note: The claims and allegations mentioned in this report are based solely on the information provided by DeFiSquared’s onchain investigation and have not been independently verified.)

Disclaimer

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About The Author

Cindy is a journalist at Metaverse Post, covering topics related to web3, NFT, metaverse and AI, with a focus on interviews with Web3 industry players. She has spoken to over 30 C-level execs and counting, bringing their valuable insights to readers. Originally from Singapore, Cindy is now based in Tbilisi, Georgia. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications & Media Studies from the University of South Australia and has a decade of experience in journalism and writing. Get in touch with her via [email protected] with press pitches, announcements and interview opportunities.

More articles
Cindy Tan
Cindy Tan

Cindy is a journalist at Metaverse Post, covering topics related to web3, NFT, metaverse and AI, with a focus on interviews with Web3 industry players. She has spoken to over 30 C-level execs and counting, bringing their valuable insights to readers. Originally from Singapore, Cindy is now based in Tbilisi, Georgia. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communications & Media Studies from the University of South Australia and has a decade of experience in journalism and writing. Get in touch with her via [email protected] with press pitches, announcements and interview opportunities.

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