This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
The collapse of a crypto fund run by Sam Bankman-Fried, who now is under arrest for what happened with his FTX company, is creating complications for many Democrats in Washington, and a few Republicans.
That’s because a report in the Daily Mail explains, one-quarter of the members of Congress took political donations from him.
They now “find themselves in a VERY tricky spot,” the report explained.
The report points out that just a few months ago, Bankman-Friend was touted as the next George Soros for his donations, as he was “second only to the famed liberal donor in contributions to Democrats in 2022.”
In fact, he apparently donated some $46.5 million in the 2022 election cycle, with a fraction, of $240,000 going to candidates that were NOT Democrats.
But now he’s accused of bilking investors out of billions. He faces multiple charges for financial crimes, conspiracy, and fraud.
The defendant has claimed he also gave large donations through dark money channels, to Republicans.
The report said, “While Bankman-Fried’s donations filed with the FEC skew heavily Democratic, he claimed his donations were equally bipartisan – saying in a November interview he believed himself to be the ‘second or third biggest’ GOP donor in the 2022 election cycle. He said he sent most of the Republican donations through untraceable dark money groups.”
Now lawmakers who got the donations are distancing themselves.
For example, the report explained, Sens. Debbie Stabenow, a Democrat, and John Boozman, a Republican, gave their FTX donations to charity.
Among the donations cited in the report included $27 million to Bankman-Fried’s personal PAC that worked to elect Democrats.
The 2020 Biden campaign got $5.2 million, about which the White House so far has been silent.
Beto O’Rourke got $1 million and returned it.
The report said, “Bankman-Fried diverted customer assets held by FTX to his separate crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged in a civil complaint on Tuesday. The company collapsed after a $5 billion ‘spending binge’ in 2021, according to John Ray II, who was appointed as CEO to lead the company through its filing for bankruptcy after Bankman-Fried stepped down.”
There’s been no legal adjudication on the money, which may have been the result of fraud, that the politicians got. But public pressure is rising for the money to be returned to compensate investors who lost their money.
The report explained, “In prepared testimony for a House hearing Bankman-Fried was unable to attend due to his arrest, the young alleged financial schemer lamented that his net worth had plunged from an estimated $20 billion to about $100,000.”
The Daily Mail continued, “Through massive donations to PACs and political groups, crypto billionaires like Bankman-Fried have so far been able to convince lawmakers that the budding industry needed a hands-off regulatory framework to grow. The collapse of FTX and the bad optics of potentially taking an illegal donation may sow doubt on that.”
The report said some lawmakers are holding the money until they get direction, as authorities may try to claw it back.
Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, reported giving the money to the Treasury, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said he had his to a food bank and Minnesota Democratic Sen. Tina Smith benefited a Planned Parenthood business with hers.
Other reported recipients of the “donations” were the American Diabetes Association and other various unidentified charities.
