FTX was the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world until it collapsed on Nov. 11. Various online claims have been made that Ukraine invested in the crypto-scam company FTX, whose CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has spent tens of millions of what appear to be skimmed funds to support Democrat candidates and their like-minded political action committees during the 2022 election cycle.
Some of Bankman-Fried’s money went to Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s campaign and the Alaska Democratic Party, and some was funneled to the effort to elect dozens of Democrat candidates around the country, including Congresswoman Mary Peltola through the House Majority PAC.
The biggest campaign spending by Bankman-Fried was $27 million to a Democratic political action committee called Protect Our Future.
Now, a group of House Republicans is asking Secretary of State Antony Blinken to come clean on whether that money was laundered through Ukraine and if U.S. taxpayer aid sent to Ukraine was then funneled into investments in the now-bankrupt FTX. If so, that could mean that taxpayer funds were shuffled around to ultimately support Democrats running for office this year. Bankman-Fried spent nearly $40 million on the 2022 midterms, money that was taken from his cryptocurrency subsidiaries before he declared FTX bankrupt.
The Associated Press and Time Magazine assure readers that no such proof exists that U.S. aid dollars were invested in FTX. But there have been significant investments through the cryptocurrency world in the war between Ukraine and Russia, and it’s provable that money has gone at least one way. What has not been proved is whether Ukraine then invested in FTX as a sort of quid pro quo.
The Associated Press wrote that the claim that U.S. aid to Ukraine was laundered back to the Democratic Party though FTX is false.
“The Ukrainian government has not invested nor stored money in FTX, according to the country’s Ministry of Digital Transformation. These claims misrepresent a short-term initiative in Ukraine that used FTX to convert cryptocurrency donations for the war effort into government-issued currency. While FTX’s former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has donated large sums to Democrats, records show he and other FTX executives also have donated to conservative groups,” the Associated Press wrote on Thursday.
The amounts donated to conservative groups by Bankman-Fried is minor, and includes the campaigns of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, and Mitt Romney — not senators that some would consider conservative.
Read the Associated Press‘ full report on the matter at this link.
But news agencies and fact-check websites are only disputing the allegations based on the word of Ukrainian government officials.
Transparency International’s 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index has Russia at the top of the list, as the most corrupt country in Europe, followed by Ukraine. Ukraine is ranked 122nd out of 180 countries for corruption. Its officials being the basis for a claim of “false” may not be good enough for many Americans.
There is an absolutely established link between FTX and the war in Ukraine. It involves a Ukrainian website called Aid For Ukraine.
In March of 2021, Aid For Ukraine was launched to raise money from the crypto community for the benefit of “Ukraine’s military and humanitarian needs.” The initiative is powered by the Ukrainian government’s Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, FTX, and Everstake, the largest decentralized staking provider in the blockchain industry. This is the first instance of a cryptocurrency exchange providing a conduit for crypto donations to a public financial institution, the announcement noted.
Must Read Alaska is not linking the related websites in this scandal due to the possibility of bad actors. The link here goes to PRNewswire’s announcement of the Aid for Ukraine project. The link to the actual Aid for Ukraine website goes to a Ukrainian government website:
Fox Business news outlet reported on Friday it had acquired the letter written by several Republican House Representatives to U.S. Secretary of State Blinken regarding their concerns that some of the $66 billion in U.S. aid sent to Ukraine has been redirected to the Democratic party through FTX.
The letter was signed by Reps. Troy Nehls and Louie Gohmert of Texas, Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, and Rep. Mary Miller of Illinois, according to Fox. The letter is not posted online, but the Representatives stated “it has come to their attention that billions of taxpayer dollars sent to Ukraine to assist with their war efforts were potentially invested in a crypto exchange that then made massive donations to Democrats” during the past midterm elections, according to Fox.
FTX collapsed when investors discovered it was a Potemkin village that was completely fraudulent, and was exposed as not having enough assets to redeem client withdrawals, which created a three-day “run” on the cryptocurrency exchange, leading to FTX filing for Bankruptcy on Nov. 11.
FTX founder and the No. 2 donor to the Democratic Party Bankman-Fried now faces criminal investigations in the Bahamas, where the exchange was headquartered and where he is holed up.
Of course the mainstream media will dispute it. If they actually investigated it, and reported on it, they might find out their precious leftists they helped elect are corrupt.
Biden has sent out Trillions. Build Back Better, Inflation Reduction (actually expansion) Act, billions to Ukraine, infrastructure…it never ended. There is zero in accountability, so we have no idea where this money went. Look at all those involved, the usual suspects. The Political and Hollywood/Sports elite joined by the climate activists. Time to follow the money and the 10% to the big guy.
I’m old enough to remember Enron. All the accusations Bush 43 let him slide due to politics.
Now that a Democrat mega donor has pulled off a scheme Ponzi would be embarrassed by, the press is disinterested.
Imagine. Rules for thee, not for me.
Who claims that media empires, themselves, did not/do not invest in dem causes?
The entire system of elections is broken and corrupt to the hilt.
Money is fungible so if the US government parasites gave money to the Ukrainian government for their proxy war against Russia to protect their interests in Ukraine then they also gave the Ukrainian government to buy into FTX
If Lisa – who has supported supplying the Ukraine War instead of a fair peace treaty – has accepted FTX money, that is a bombshell.
FTX was careful to bankroll establishment, pro-Ukraine-War Republicans too – there is a claim Mitch McConnell got $2.5 million – so whether there is a Congressional investigation by the Republican majority House is problematic.
Contrary to the Anch. Daily News, etc., Kelly Tshibaka seems to have been much more conservative, just saying Alaska is a defensive outpost needing strong military and naval defenses … which is certainly true.
As we have just seen with Kyiv’s false claim that its missile(s?) hitting Poland was/were actually Russian, this war could blow up into nuclear holocaust at any moment.
See my column posted by Yahoo! both on News and Finance, “Lou Coatney: Russia now left no choice but nuclear war.”
Friends in Juneau will remember me strongly defending national defense and nuclear deterrence in the public forum there, back in the 70s and 80s.
I’m over here in Norway for my younger children, now, and I have been utterly shocked at how even Peace Prize Norway is as war-rabid as the other European countries.
We also remember your wholehearted support of Trump in 2016, saying if he were a problem he could easily be impeached. What a joke that was.
Tshibaka was rejected for many reasons, including she was pushed by Don Trump. And, of course, Trump’s issues with Murkowski had to do with her voting against him. Tough noogies to you and Trump, Lou.
2016 was Trump or (Hillary and) World War 3, Bill. (Good to see you! 🙂 Quite a car pool we had with Baerbel and Vince.) And as it is turning out, so was 2020.
(Did you *read* my article on Yahoo! and my mention of that last, foreign policy 2020 presidential debate? Supporting national health care and the environment and worn out by Trump’s tweeting, I did not support him for 2020. My – and your – mistake.)
Trump – for all his flaws, and I think he should do at least a couple months prison time for inciting Jan6 – NEVER would have put us in this *terminal* danger like Biden&Blinken and the other DC, London, and Brussels neocons have.
And *Trump* let the Army train the Ukraine Army in Mission Command – junior officer initiative – doctrine, and before the war he sent our Javelin antitank missiles, both of which defeated the Russians’ initial coup de main attempt.
This war is WAY too, *terminally* dangerous, Bill, and must be STOPPED *immediately*, in place, with a fair treaty, which Lisa opposes.
By the way, key defining issue: For at least the past 3 years in support of the Ukrainians, we have been voting *against* the UN General Assembly annual anti-Nazi resolution, despite all the hype about Tony Blinken’s stepfather being a Nazi Holocaust Survivor. By contrast, this last vote was 105-50-15 – 2:1 for it, including Israel of course. THAT is how internationally isolated we are making ourselves with this war and how utterly *wrecked* our foreign relations now are, under B&B.
The war-rabid Europeans think we’re great, of course, but the rest of the world is emerging economically and wants no part of passing anti-Russian resolutions at the economic conferences.
Best analogy of the war I have seen is fools arguing over deck chairs on the sinking Titanic – environment.
Take care. I’ve got a granddaughter too, now! 🙂
Lou, Trump had a rally on Jan6 and that was it. The rest was planned by the Democrats with Antifa and the Oregon Anarchists the thugs. Watch the video, security guards let them in and lead them down the hallways. Pelosi is the Sgt at Arms and did nothing to bolster security even with threat warnings.
You are delusional here Jimbo.
I disagree with most of your premise here Lou but I also understand that you are
closer to ground zero and for that reason it’s understandable you might be more concerned.
I’ve lost touch with Vince and haven’t heard lately how Barb is doing. Congratulations on the granddaughter (I’ve got two).
I can’t wait for the end so you will see what’s coming. You talk big but it won’t be ok after the new world order tells you to sit down and be quiet.
FTX ends up being a democrat campaign money laundering scheme not unlike the public employee unions. Cheers –
We can all breathe easily, now that that bastion of truth, the AP, has debunked this story.
Anything from members of the Freedom Caucus should be met with skepticism
Does it hurt your brain to think? Please list items from the Freedom Caucus proven factually wrong.
Ukraine, Democrats, corruption, lots and lots free money…. What could possibly go wrong? Is anyone surprised to see these four things in the same sentence?
Taxization without representation sounds like that’s where we are at. But it looks like 1/2 of the country like being worker bees for the rich.
The Biden Crime family has been laundering American taxpayer’s money through Ukraine since at least 2014, as has Mitt Romney, Nancy Pelosi and other corrupt establishment politicians in Washington, DC!
What is your family’s share of the national debt? Who is going to pay it?
As I have said for months, Ukraine is a money laundering operation run by global elites and the Democrat Party. This is how they fund their corrupt election stealing operation and enrich themselves in the process. Why do you think Congress has been pouring our hard-earned tax dollars through Ukraine? It has nothing to do with fighting the Russians but has everything to do with funding their political attack ads in the U.S. and paying off their friends to steal elections. Wake up folks, the world isn’t black and white. You really need to think outside of the box and take a hard look at all the new evidence pouring in. You have been lied to for decades by corrupt people in our government that are being blackmailed to hide the corruption. MGT in the house has vowed we will look into every dollar spent in Ukraine. Get ready, it’s going to get a bit bumpy over the next several months. The Deep State is cornered like a wild animal and is going to do drastic things. Folks will probably get hurt in this fight. Keep praying and fighting for your freedom.
The media not covering it tells me it’s common knowledge among the players that grabbed a big slice of the pie. If $300B was allocated for Ukraine $300M was funneled right back to the gangsters that made it happen. FTX was nothing more than a fold and press dry cleaner for the DNC.
Anybody want to bet nobody goes to jail.
If the corrupt and co-opted corporate media is denying it, then chances are extremely good that it is true.
The article says, “Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, and Mitt Romney — not senators that some would consider conservative.” That would be the understatement of the year. Does anyone consider any of the senators listed “conservative?”
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