Sam Bankman-Fried hit with campaign finance complaint over 'dark money' donations
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried received a campaign finance complaint for alleged dark money donations to GOP candidates and groups during the midterms.
The complaint was filed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) regarding up to $37 million in questionable donations.
Disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was slapped with a campaign finance complaint for alleged “serious violations” of election law as he said he made “dark money” contributions to Republicans and Republican groups during the 2022 primary season.
— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) December 8, 2022
The accusations
"Mr. Bankman-Fried, who was, until recently, a crypto-currency billionaire and known top Democratic contributor, admitted during a recent public interview that he gave “dark” money contributions to support Republicans in federal elections in the past cycle," the complaint read.
"He admitted that if his dark money contributions were known, public records would show he gave about equally to Democrats and Republicans this past cycle, and that he would likely be the second or third largest Republican donor," it added.
Ethics group asks Federal Election Commission to probe ex-FTX crypto exchange CEO Sam Bankman-Fried over admitted "dark" money donations to Republican-linked groups. https://t.co/XMjW0wOpaM
— CNBC (@CNBC) December 8, 2022
In his own words
The complaint contains includes an emphasis on a November interview he gave to Tiffany Fong.
“I donated to both parties. I donated about the same amount to both parties this year,” he said during the interview.
“That was not generally known, because despite [the Supreme Court decision known as] Citizens United being literally the highest profile Supreme Court case of the decade and the thing everyone talks about when they talk about campaign finance, for some reason, in practice, no one could possibly fathom the idea that someone in practice actually gave dark,” he added.
“All my Republican donations were dark,” Bankman-Fried continued. “The reason was not the regulatory reason.”
🚨Thread about the exclusive interview with SBF. 👇
1.) Sam claims he gave to BOTH parties equally, but his republican donations were "dark" (hidden). pic.twitter.com/USkwk4gIKH— Coffeezilla (@coffeebreak_YT) November 29, 2022
Until recently, the focus in the case has been on his connections to Democrats during the midterms. The evidence now shows Bankman-Fried may have also been a large supporter of GOP candidates.
If so, it will be interesting to see which Republicans benefited from his donations, offering a more detailed look at the connections that may exist.
The case continues to unfold with interesting developments in the latest headlines regarding the former crypto leader.
