While it appears likely that FTX's customers will not get their money back following the resignation of disgraced CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, Democrats on the receiving end of huge donations from SBF have yet to return the funds and are not commenting on whether or not they will, a report said.
Bankman-Fried gave roughly $40 million to Democrats during the 2022 election cycle, second only to George Soros. In 2020, SBF pumped $5 million into the Future Forward PAC, which spent $74 million to back Joe Biden's campaign.
Team Biden "has not weighed in" on the SBF funds, and hoodwinked Democrats "won't say whether they're going to hang on to the cash," the Washington Free Beacon noted in a Nov. 15 report.
In the 2022 cycle, Bankman-Fried shelled out $6 million to the Democrats' House Majority PAC; $1 million to New York Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer's Senate Majority PAC; and $865,000 to the Democratic National Committee.
Related: What American voters did not know about FTX, Democrat elites and the Ukraine War, November 15, 2022
The Free Beacon previously reported that Bankman-Fried and his team of lobbyists at FTX met with top Biden White House officials during visits on April 22, May 12, and May 13 of this year.
In March, Bankman-Fried appeared on a panel with California Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters, who oversees cryptocurrency issues as chair of the House Financial Services Committee.
Waters dismissed questions this week about whether her colleagues should return donations from Bankman-Fried. Instead, Waters told the Daily Beast that the scandal is "unfortunate because it just puts a bad eye on cryptocurrency. And so we’ll see what happens."
Three lawmakers have indicated what they will do with the SBF funds their campaigns received.
Illinois Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin and Illinois Democrat Rep. Chuy Garcia said their campaigns will direct Bankman-Fried’s $2,900 campaign contribution to charity, the Daily Beast reported. Arizona Republican Rep. Dave Schweikert, one of a handful of GOP beneficiaries, said he would return a $2,900 contribution from Bankman-Fried's top lieutenant Ryan Salame.
Bankman-Fried earlier this year had boasted he could give up to $1 billion to Democrats for the 2022 midterms.
"One suspects he donated millions to Democrats, knowing it would insulate him from press criticism and also help with regulators," said Scott Walter, president of Capital Research Center. "Perhaps his wild claim he'd give up to $1 billion to Democrats aimed to make him ‘Too Big To Jail.’ "
Bankman-Fried was well known for running with Democrat circles on Capitol Hill. He "met with lawmakers and congressional aides on a routine basis to shape regulation of the crypto industry," the Free Beacon noted.
SBF testified before the House Financial Services Committee on Dec. 7, 2021, and boasted about his company’s success and his own personal "commitment to giving back." He testified before the House Agriculture Committee on May 12, 2022, the same day he met with top White House counselor Steve Ricchetti.
The Free Beacon noted that Bankman-Fried’s brother, Gabe, visited the White House on March 7, 2022 along with Jenna Narayanan, a Democrat strategist who once worked for Tom Steyer and the Democracy Alliance, a network of wealthy liberal donors who fund left-wing causes.
FTX account holders this month saw their portfolios wiped out. Bankman-Fried is reportedly "under supervision" by authorities in the Bahamas, where he lives. Federal agencies are investigating whether Bankman-Fried misused billions of dollars in customer deposits at FTX to prop up a hedge fund he controlled.
SBF reportedly told investors that the company was facing a major shortfall of up to $8 billion from withdrawal requests and needs emergency funding.
On Friday, once papers were filed in federal bankruptcy court in Delaware, Bankman-Fried announced his resignation. He also said that his firm Alameda Research — which allegedly traded billions of dollars from FTX customers’ accounts and leveraged the crypto exchange’s native token as collateral — is shutting down.
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