In the ongoing trial involving Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), shocking revelations emerged as witness Caroline Ellison testified about alleged attempts to unfreeze $1 billion in FTX funds on two Chinese exchanges. According to Ellison, Sam Trabucco, then co-CEO of Alameda Research, was involved in a plan to bribe Chinese government officials, media reports said.
The plan reportedly included making $150 million in payments through the accounts of Thai prostitutes, orchestrated by David Ma. Despite objections from another FTX employee named Handi, who opposed the bribery payments, Trabucco allegedly mocked her on Signal. Trabucco, also known as Tabasco, has not been charged or appeared in court, raising questions about his potential involvement.
As the trial unfolds, the dynamics of the case are drawing attention, with speculation about who might receive a “get-out-of-jail-free card.” The prosecution has hinted at the possibility of such a deal, reminiscent of past cases.
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Ellison testified in court that Alameda created multiple accounts using Thai prostitute identities on the OKX platform. The attempt was to manipulate the frozen trading accounts by causing losses while ensuring the newly created accounts generated profits.
This was achieved through executing imbalanced trades between the two sets of accounts and withdrawing the earned amount from the prostitute accounts.
When the trading strategy involving Thai prostitute accounts failed to yield the intended results, David Ma, an Alameda employee, proposed that SBF resort to bribing Chinese officials to unlock the frozen funds. Initially hesitant, SBF eventually acquiesced and transferred $100 million to specified accounts. This action resulted in the successful unfreezing of the funds.
