By COINDESK
More than one in three of the 535 senators and representatives in the U.S. Congress showed up to the new session with FTX baggage, having received campaign support from one of the senior executives of the fraud-ridden crypto giant.
CoinDesk identified 196 members of the new Congress who took cash from Sam Bankman-Fried or other senior executives at FTX, a crypto exchange that filed for bankruptcy in Delaware in November after CoinDesk revealed unusually close ties between FTX and Alameda Research, an affiliated hedge fund.
The names in Congress range from the heights of both chambers, including new Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), down to a list of recipients new to high-level politics. The list includes Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
After the lawmakers received the money, it became clear – according to the work of journalists, the criminal charges and admissions of guilt from FTX insiders – that the funds sprang from this colossal financial swindle. CoinDesk reached out to all 196 lawmakers to ask what they would do with the money.
Most of the politicians who responded said they handed it over to charities to remove the taint of contributions from executives such as former FTX CEO Bankman-Fried, whose federal fraud charges also include an accusation that he violated campaign-finance laws. Others have revealed they had conversations with the U.S. Department of Justice about setting aside the money until it can be dropped into a fund to compensate FTX victims.
“Making a payment or donation to a third party (including a charity) in the amount of any payment received from a FTX contributor does not prevent the FTX debtors from seeking recovery,” FTX warned in a December statement. The company is now controlled by CEO John Ray III, whose primary job is to recover money for the company’s fleeced creditors, though it isn’t yet clear whether political donations – nominally made directly from the individual’s personal accounts – will be subject to clawbacks.
Murkowski said she donated the money from her campaign account to a charity that is associated with her family.
The Alaska Democratic Party was also a major recipient of FTX-related donations, but does not appear in this CoinDesk research.
That’s all? I’m genuinely surprised. I figured it would have been damn near all of them.
The list does not include politicians that received the funds via PACs and other groups. FTX could have given funds to each and every politicians, but it was laundered through a lobbying organization.
Thanks Citizen’s United that your pick SCOTUS judges passed.
Interesting how St. Mitt the pious gave his to the US Treasury (ie, the trough he feeds from) instead of putting it into an escrow account pending returning it to the defrauded.
Classic example of how the only thing worse than Democrats are Republicans.
Yep.
Of course they did. Money has been laundered through Ukraine for many years. It’s on a massive scale in the years of bidens residency. They claim it’s being sent for a good cause lol. They know we know but they don’t care and apparently we don’t.
Before bidens residency, hunter would have to travel to bring back the bacon from Ukrain but not any longer. And now many others are reaping the benefits of our nation’s corruption.
Where else would they go? SBF had money and was giving it out. The ground must have shook when they stampeded to his hand.
Not surprised the princes took the money. Still beyond normal that people votes for her. These people need to just put her on their bank accounts as they like being stole from. Dumb voters.
I was shocked when Senator Lisa, an attorney donated the money to charity. 101 of bankruptcy & Ponzi schemes & fraud is the claw back of money. I’ve been a supporter, but this made me ponder her capability, experience as an attorney and what she was willing to risk to grandstand politically.
Lisa loves money no matter where it comes from. Our state has been shut down and she did nothing. She did however hold out her hand for Biden’s funny money and patted herself on the back for all the hard work she’s doing, doling out millions for “infrastructure.”
“Murkowski said she donated the money from her campaign account to a charity that is associated with her family.”
In other words, Lisa needs to look like she cares without actually letting go of the funds…..
“Murkowski donated the money from her campaign account to a charity that is associated with her family.”
Is just a way I suspect Murkowski or any senator or representative laundry the money to their personal accounts.
Murkowski, and the recipient charity that she donated the stolen money to, need to do the right thing and give that money back to the investors who were defrauded by FTX, To do anything less would be criminal and immoral!
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