BIT Mining, previously known as online sports casino 500 . com, paid about $2.5 million worth of bribes to Japanese officials between 2017 and 2019.

Bitcoin mining firm BIT Mining has admitted it authorized paying bribes to Japanese politicians in an attempt to win a bid for a resort and casino license in Japan and has agreed to pay $10 million worth of fines to the United States government to resolve the charges.

BIT Mining’s bribery scheme occurred between 2017 and 2019 when the firm was known as 500.com — a Chinese online sports lottery company.

The bribes consisted of roughly $2.5 million worth of illicit cash bribes, entertainment and extravagant trips for Japanese politicians, according to the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s Nov. 18 statement.

BIT Mining agreed to pay a $4 million civil penalty to the SEC and a $10 million criminal fine to the US Department of Justice (DOJ). However, $4 million of that will be satisfied by the civil penalty paid to the SEC.

Meanwhile, the DOJ has also charged 500.com’s then-CEO Zhengming Pan for orchestrating the bribes.

Source: CoinTelegraph