Congressman Brad Sherman claims FTX ‘deterred legislation’ with money

Anti-crypto Congressman Brad Sherman released a statement on the FTX crash and said that FTX has been supporting Democrats to influence crypto regulations and that he was correct to urge the SEC to take action against unregistered exchanges in early 2022.

He also added that he plans to examine options for federal crypto legislation with his colleagues in the coming weeks.

SBF’s donations

Sherman claimed that millionaire crypto personalities had “flooded Washington” with millions of dollars. Even though these funds were disguised as campaign donations,

He said:

“A great deal of attention has been given to former FTX CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried’s, political donations to Democrats; most of that was spent in primaries (mostly unsuccessfully), not to help Democrats beat Republicans.

When you examine FTX efforts to influence Washington, you have to look at both CEOs, not just the eccentric guy wearing the shorts.”

Sherman added that he witnessed the co-CEO of FTX Bahamas, Ryan Salame, donate over $23 million to Republican candidates.

Sherman reaffirms anti-crypto stance

Sherman acknowledged the severity of financial losses with the FTX’s collapse and said the full scope of the event is still unforeseeable. He emphasized the importance of realizing the “management failures that led to this collapse” and taking action.

He claimed that his attitude toward the crypto industry has been legitimized and urged the SEC to take decisive action in the same direction to prevent similar catastrophes in the future.

Sherman said:

“For years I have advocated for Congress and federal regulators to take an aggressive approach in confronting the many threats to our society posed by cryptocurrencies…I believe it is important now more than ever that the SEC take decisive action to put an end to the regulatory gray area in which the crypto industry has operated.”