Staff Reports
The founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, is a prominent Democratic donor and the second-largest individual contributor to the party. On Monday, he was indicted on multiple campaign finance violations. The details of his crimes were much worse than we previously believed.
The criminal complaint, which was filed in Los Angeles, accused Bankman-Fried of making illegal campaign contributions from October 2021 to February 2022. It stated that he made over $2.5 million in contributions to various political campaigns. Although the report did not identify the specific candidates, it did reveal that he had contributed to multiple campaigns.
How did he make these donations? With customer funds. Yes, really.
Here’s the scoop from CNBC:
"Authorities charged Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of FTX, with using customer funds to make illegal campaign contributions. They said that he misappropriated tens of millions of dollars.
According to prosecutors, one of the main reasons that Bankman-Fried made these donations was to influence the policies and laws that affect the cryptocurrency industry."
Despite the report's claims that he gave to both Republicans and Democrats, records show that the majority of his donations went to the Democrats.
The indictment further states that Bankman-Fried concealed the nature of the donations by routing them through various shell companies and bank accounts. In order to conceal the donations' source, he allegedly lied to his lawyers.
The charges against Bankman-Fried include multiple counts of making illegal campaign contributions in the name of another person. He also allegedly made contributions in excess of the legal limit.
The preceding is a summary of an article that originally appeared on Trending Politics.
