It looks like the crypto contributions made to politicians by Sam Bankman-Fried – the former founder and chief executive of digital currency exchange FTX – are coming back to haunt him. Four new criminal charges have been filed against him, some of which stem from the political contributions he made to democrat candidates in the past.
Bankman-Fried NEVER Should Have Gotten Involved in Politics
It is alleged that Sam Bankman-Fried tried to buy his way into Congress and into America’s political system and that the contributions he made to Joe Biden and various other candidates’ campaigns were illegal. If convicted, Bankman-Fried could face another 40 years in prison.
Right now, SBF is facing several charges relating to fraud. It is alleged that while he was head of FTX, he utilized customer funds to not only invest in luxury Bahamian real estate, but to pay off loans taken out by his other company Alameda Research. By co-mingling the funds of both firms and interspersing them as he reportedly did, a crime was committed. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams commented on the situation, stating:
We are hard at work and will remain so until justice is done.
The new filing says that Sam Bankman-Fried and his constituents made as many as 300 separate political contributions that amounted to more than $70 million to midterm candidates alone. This does not include the money he gave to Joe Biden in 2020 (SBF is currently on record as Biden’s second largest donor). The data was uncovered by campaign finance watchdog OpenSecrets. Documents filed in court read:
To avoid certain contributions being publicly reported in his name, Bankman-Fried conspired to and did have certain political contributions made in the names of two other FTX executives.
The contributions are believed to have been illicit because they were made using either company funds or through what’s called a straw fund, in which customer money was moved to a private account designed to influence America’s political environment. The documents further state:
Others agreed that he and his co-conspirators should contribute at least a million dollars to a super PAC that was supporting a candidate running for a United States congressional seat and appeared to be affiliated with pro-LGBTQ issues.
Trying to Buy Influence?
At the time of writing, an unnamed political ethics firm has requested the Federal Election Commission to look into Sam Bankman-Fried for “serious violations.” Furthermore, the political candidates that accepted donations from SBF aren’t walking away unaffected. A group of FTX entities have since been working hard to get the donations back, likely as a means of following protocols in the company’s present bankruptcy proceedings.
The ethics group notes that several text messages and other forms of communication have been sent to an array of political figures over the last few weeks requesting the return of said funds.
Source: https://www.livebitcoinnews.com/sam-bankman-fried-faces-more-charges-for-his-political-contributions/