FTX founder charged with paying $40M bribe

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was charged with directing $40 million in bribes to one or more Chinese officials to unfreeze assets relating to his cryptocurrency business in a newly rewritten indictment unsealed Tuesday.

The charge of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act raises to 13 the number of charges Bankman-Fried faces after he was arrested in the Bahamas in December and brought to the United States soon afterward. The indictment was returned Monday.

The charge also contains language revealing that a fifth arrest was imminent in what U.S. Attorney Damian Williams has repeatedly described as a continuing investigation. That unidentified individual, according to the indictment, participated in the bribery conspiracy with Bankman-Fried and “will be arrested in the Southern District of New York.”

FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11 when it ran out of money after the equivalent of a bank run on the global cryptocurrency exchange. He has remained free on a $250 million personal recognizance bond that lets him stay with his parents in Palo Alto.

He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he cheated investors out of billions of dollars before his business collapsed.

An arraignment on the rewritten indictment was set for Thursday by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan. He also on Tuesday banned Bankman-Fried from communicating with current or ex-employees of FTX or Alameda Research, its affiliated cryptocurrency hedge fund trading firm.

AMC stocks soar on possible Amazon buyout

AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. rose as much as 18% after the Intersect website reported Amazon.com Inc. is weighing a possible acquisition of the struggling movie-theater chain.

Amazon has investment advisers looking at a possible takeover of the chain, which has a market value of about $4 billion, the site reported.

Shares of AMC, the world’s largest theater chain and a popular meme stock, traded as high as $5.38 in New York, the most in a month. The company has struggled financially as consumers have returned slowly to cinemas following the pandemic.

AMC shares also jumped in 2021 on speculation of an Amazon acquisition that never materialized. At the time, the chain was swept up in a Reddit-inspired mania that sent its stock soaring.

AMC theaters could serve as a platform for the 12 to 15 movies Amazon plans to release in cinemas annually, the website said. Bloomberg News reported last year that Amazon is planning an ambitious slate of films. Apple Inc. also is ramping up output.

Consumer confidence ticks up in March

Consumer confidence inched up in March after two consecutive monthly declines, even as persistent inflation, bank collapses and anxiety over a possible recession weighed on American households.

The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose to 104.2 in March from 103.4 in February. Optimism about current conditions fell, though consumers grew slightly more positive about the short-term future. That’s a reversal from recent surveys.

The board said that despite the uptick in confidence, the index remains below 2022’s average level of 104.5.

The business research group’s present situation index — which measures consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions — inched down to 151.1 from 153 last month.

The board’s expectations index — a measure of consumers’ six-month outlook for income, business and labor conditions — rose in March to 73 from 70.4 in February.

The Associated Press and Bloomberg contributed to this report.