https://time.com/6241262/sam-bankman-fried-political-donations/
2022:
"Bankman-Fried contributed more than $70 million to election campaigns in less than 18 months, placing him among the nation’s top political donors. He personally gave at least $40 million to politicians and political action committees ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, mostly to Democrats and liberal-leaning groups, making him the second overall top donor to Democrats, only behind George Soros, according to the Center for Responsive Politics."
"In addition, he personally contributed the individual maximum of $5,800 to more than a dozen members of Congress including Senators Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, and Sen. John Boozman, an Arkansas Republican, who lead the Senate Agriculture Committee, which has a role in regulating cryptocurrency. Stabenow and Boozman introduced a bill together this year that was intended to
give FTX a path toward regulatory compliance in the U.S."
“There are a number of loopholes and limits that Sam Bankman-Fried was able to exploit that Congress can fix,” he tells TIME. “He directed money to influence elections but hid where that money came from.”
"The former crypto king made one of the largest donations to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign in 2020, contributing $5.2 million, according to the
Wall Street Journal. The White House on Tuesday refused to answer questions about whether the President would return those political donations in light of the federal charges, claiming the Hatch Act prevented the executive branch from commenting on political campaign activities."
“These contributions were disguised to look like they were coming from wealthy co-conspirators, when in fact the contributions were funded by Alameda Research with stolen customer money,” said Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, at a press conference on Tuesday. “All of this dirty money was used in service of Bankman-Fried’s desire to buy bipartisan influence and impact the direction of public policy in Washington.”
"Political donations from FTX or its top executives accounted for most of the industry’s political spending."
Current election cycle:
Not in the best interest of the (re)public.
