As per reports in the Washington Post dated December 16, 2022, almost three democratic groups returned donations worth more than $2 million received from Mr. Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the infamous FTX crypto exchanges, and gave funds back to the exchange customers.
Following Sam Bankman-Fried’s arrest on December 12, 2022, there is increased vigilance, particularly regarding donations made to political parties in the United States. According to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, the discredited founder used “dirty money” to influence Washington politics and buy influence.
According to reports, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC), and Democratic National Committee returned most of the donations from Sam Bankman-Fried. The Democratic National Committee leads with a share of $815,000 received from Sam Bankman-Fried since 2020.
A spokesperson of the Company stated,
Given the allegations around potential campaign finance violations by Bankman-Fried, we are setting aside funds to return the $815,000 in contributions since 2020. We will return as soon as we receive proper direction in the legal proceedings.
Sam Bankman-Fried has given donations worth $40 million to the party groups and political candidates and focussed majorly on the democrats and lawmakers of both parties involved in the regulatory decisions and inclined to the crypto industry. Apart from the groups mentioned earlier, FTX executives donated millions of dollars to the Republican candidates.
David Bergstein, the spokesperson of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, stated that they had set aside donations of $103,000 received from Bankman-Fried and were ready to give back as per directions of legal proceedings.
The spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Chris Taylor, also agreed to return the donations of $ 250,000 according to the legal decision or guidance of the government. Veronica Yoo, a spokeswoman for the organization, stated that they took this action “to repay the funds whenever we obtain correct direction from federal law enforcement officials based on their legal processes.” Bankman-Fried awarded the Company $1,000,000.
The super PAC is the primary beneficiary of the defunct FTX exchange, and according to sources, Sam Bankman-Fried gave the organization $6 million during the current election cycle. House Majority PAC is looking into the in-process legal proceedings and is committed to abiding by the court decision, per spokesman Abby Curran Horrell.
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Bankman-Fried also claimed that before his arrest, he had given a sizeable sum to “dark money” groups that are not required to reveal their contributors. He claimed to have done so to support Republicans, but he offered no proof of the funds. According to records, Ryan Salame, one of his fellow CEOs, donated more than $20 million during the 2022 election cycle, mainly to GOP politicians and organizations.
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