SBF’s Dark Money Contributions Prompted FEC Investigation

An group that keeps an eye on things in the neighborhood has asked for a probe to be conducted into the political contributions that Sam Bankman-Fried has made in the past. The organization asserts that the former chief executive officer of FTX admitted to breaking federal law by clandestinely donating tens of millions of dollars to Republican candidates and campaigns in violation of the law. This violation occurred while the former chief executive officer of FTX was employed by the company.

On December 8, members of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC), citing statements made by Bankman-Fried during an interview on November 16 with bitcoin YouTuber Tiffany Fong. The interview was held on November 16, and the remarks were uploaded on YouTube on November 29 after they were made public. CREW mentioned in its lawsuit that wealthy contributors frequently make use of the Citizen United case in order to circumvent federal disclosure standards by employing intermediaries and claiming that they were unaware of where the money was going. This is done under the pretense that they were unaware of where the money was going. This is done with the intention of avoiding complying with the requirements of the law.

According to the group, Bankman-Fried had engaged in “direct and severe violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act.” A single calendar year’s worth of political donations that add up to more than $200 are subject to this law’s requirement that they be disclosed to the public. This statute, according to the organization’s allegations, had been broken by Bankman-Fried.

During the conversation that he had with Fong on November 16th, Bankman-Fried said that he had “donated roughly the same to both parties.”

According to OpenSecrets, he was the Democrats’ second greatest donor; hence, it is reasonable to conclude that the “hidden” contributions include a substantial amount of money given that he was the Democrats’ second highest contributor.

Bankman-Fried has been on what one could call an apology tour ever since his fall from prominence. [Here’s a good example:] Among his many other public engagements, he has taken part in a wide range of interviews, some of which have been broadcast on Good Morning America, The New York Times’ DealBook Summit, and other Twitter Spaces.