A watchdog group has filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission over “dark” money contributions that cryptocurrency kingpin Sam Bankman-Fried says he made to Republican candidates, which he admitted he funned through independent groups so the news media would not find out.
Bankman-Fried, former CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has not been able to explain where the billions of dollars of investor funds went, but at least $40 million of it went to Democrats.
“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. 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,” the complaint by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a group that generally files legal complaints against Republicans.
“I donated to both parties. I donated about the same amount to both parties this year,” Bankman-Fried said in a YouTube interview.
It’s already known that Bankman-Fried gave money to some Republicans, such as a maximum-allowed contribution to the coffers of Sen. Lisa Murkowski. But it’s a drop in the bucket compared to what he could give under the cover of an independent expenditure group.
He aslo gave generously to Democrats and PACs supporting them, such as Protecting Our Future PAC.
Bankman-Fried and his co-founders at FTX contributed $300,351 to nine members of the House Financial Services Committee, Federal Election Commission records showed. The largest contributions were to Democrat members of the committee’s Digital Assets Working Group, which creates legislation surrounding the crypto industry.
“Rep. Maxine Waters (D., Calif.), who chairs the committee, announced a probe this week into FTX’s collapse after the company declared bankruptcy, wiping out billions of dollars in customers’ portfolios. The Justice Department and Securities Exchange Commission are reportedly investigating Bankman-Fried for potential misuse of customer funds,” the Washington Free Beacon reported.
“Taking him at his word, Mr. Bankman-Fried was therefore able to direct approximately $37 million, and potentially much more, to influence federal elections while evading federal laws that require disclosure of the true source of contributions,” CREW alleges in its complaint. Bankman-Fried said — on YouTube — that he did so during primaries to elevate “good candidates” and diminish the “bad candidates.” And he admitted intentionally structuring his donations to avoid detection by the FEC.
It’s already known that over $40 million of Bankman-Fried’s ill-gotten gains, scammed from investors, was funneled to Democrats. As he has spoken to the media and podcasters, he let it be known that he also gave to Republicans, but structured his donations to GOP-linked groups to avoid reporting requirements, thus taking advantage of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizen United v. FEC ruling, which allows unions and corporations to make contributions to what are called “independent expenditure” groups, which are not allowed to coordinate with the campaigns.
The Citizens United decision “did not, however, permit organizations to act as pass-throughs for others’ contributions, or to make independent expenditures while keeping secret their own contributors,” CREW’s complaint says.
Bankman-Fried made a statement to CNBC about the complaint: “I will always support constructive, bipartisan lawmakers and candidates who support the causes I believe in — chief among them, prevention of the next pandemic.”
Read CoinDesk.com: Bankman-Fried apologizes to FTX employees in leaked letter
