The Former US Representative Returned A $1M Donation From Former FTX CEO

The former United States representative Beto O’ Rourke returned a $1 million (USD) cheque to former CEO of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried before the midterm elections. O’Rourke’s campaign informed that the donation was returned to Sam before the FTX filed for bankruptcy.

The spokesperson for O’Rourke’s, Chris Evan, stated that “this contribution was unsolicited, and the campaign’s upcoming report will show that it was returned on November 4, before the news stories that would later come out about the donor.”

Chirs Evan further said that the FTX crash happened suddenly, and returning the cheque has nothing to do with the recent FTX downfall in the crypto market. O’Rourke’s campaign collected nearly $77 million (USD) in recent midterm elections held in the United States. Among the donors, the former FTX CEO was the top donor, with a $1 million (USD) contribution.

Greg Abbott, who belongs to the Republican party that defeated Beto O’ Rourke in recent elections, was totally against FTX donations; he stated that “candidates who received this tainted money should return it so that innocent users of FTX can get some of their money back.”

After George Soros, the former FTX CEO was the second-largest donor of funds to the Democrats. As per the reports, $57 million (USD) was given to Democratic candidates, and the remaining $22 million (USD) was given to Republican members. It is not the first time that FTX donated funds to elections; in the 2020 elections, SBF spent nearly $5.2 million (USD) on Joe Biden’s election campaigns in the US.

US officials from the Republican and Democratic parties felt guilty accepting millions of dollars from the former FTX CEO before the crypto crash happened on November 8, 2022. Sam-Bankman Fried openly accepted the truth on social media platforms that he spent some of his profits on the election campaign on November 8, 2022.

FTX, once considered one of the major cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States, valued at nearly $32 billion (USD), experienced bankruptcy in a matter of days. According to the Coin Republic, Sam Bankman-Fried purchased FTT tokens at a lower price to invest in Alameda. The entity waited a long time to increase the price of FTT tokens. After some days, Alameda started borrowing “real money” using these highly inflated FTT tokens as collateral. FTT lost up to 90% of its value this week.

According to reports, Sam Bankman-Fried recently stated, “you don’t get into a situation like I got in if you make all the right decisions.”

Andrew is a blockchain developer who developed his interest in cryptocurrencies while his post-graduation. He is a keen observer of details and shares his passion for writing along with being a developer. His backend knowledge about blockchain helps him give a unique perspective to his writing