Crypto bigwigs have spent millions of dollars funding recent U.S. election campaigns, including those for the 2024 U.S. presidential elections. One name echoing here is former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF). After the exchange went bust, U.S. Senators voiced concerns over some “lavish” donations.
A week ago, one of the largest crypto exchanges, FTX, went bankrupt, and the former CEO, popularly known as ‘SBF,’ resigned. Following the collapse, his net worth dropped from about $16 billion to a nominal rate (of zero).
Now FTX’s demise even gave rise to scrutiny from regulators as narratives of mishandling customer funds rose. But the collapse of this crypto empire also had a direct link with the U.S election cycle.
SBF funded US elections
BeInCrypto reported in mid-November that SBF and FTX executives donated more than $70 million to political campaigns during the 2021/2022 U.S. election cycle. SBF himself spent nearly $40 million to fund mostly Democrat candidates and movements during the 2022 midterm elections.
Once standing second for Democrat political funding has dropped off the list following the collapse. But even if the donator went away, US Senators are now asking questions to Joe Biden-led administrations over these donations.
Calling out Democrats
Josh Hawley, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to top Biden administration officials requesting ‘information and correspondence’ over SBF’s “lavish” donations. The Senator spoke to FOX Business to shed more light regarding this matter.
The FTX collapse came right after the midterm elections, which raised questions about the funds. And whether federal regulators and law enforcement “faced conflicts of interest in identifying, investigating, and thwarting the fraudulent scheme.”
The Missouri Republican penned a letter to the officials highlighting the political ramifications. He stated:
“The success of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s criminal enterprise briefly made him one of America’s richest men. And he deployed his ill-gotten gains in service of the Democratic Party, emerging in recent years as its second largest individual donor behind only George Soros.”
Hence pointing at SBF’s lavish donations to the Democratic Party through rampant fraud. The net result was that “billions of dollars were stolen from investors and handed over to Democrats and left-wing organizations,” Hawley added.
He further requested that the DOJ, SEC, and CFTC share the requested information and correspondence with his office by Nov. 25, 2022.
Links to crypto
There has now been a significant drop in U.S. Democratic Party funding. Earlier this year, SBF said he would spend up to $1 billion to help influence the 2024 presidential election campaigns, but he has since backed down.
He even supported the Protect Our Future political action committee (PAC), which endorsed 25 Democrats in congressional races. Despite the fall, SBF’s academic and monetary contributions to the Democratic party remain a topic of contention.
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