On December 19, 2022, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (C) is handcuffed and taken away from a court in Nassau, Bahamas by Royal Bahamas Police officers.
Chris Ingraham | Afp | Getty Images
The Democratic-leaning Senate majority PAC plans to return a $3 million donation from former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and crypto exchange former engineering chief Nishad Singh. the group said on Tuesday.
According to Federal Election Commission records, the Super PAC spent more than $160 million to help Democrats bid for the Senate seat, with $2 million from Singh and 100 from Bankman-Fried during the 2022 election cycle. received a million dollars.
“Following serious allegations against FTX, the Senate Majority PAC previously withheld donations from Sam Bankman-Fried and Nishad Singh and sought appropriate direction from federal law enforcement officials pursuant to legal process. If received, it would return the funds, a PAC spokesperson told CNBC on Tuesday.
The Democratic National Committee and the party’s Senate and House campaign bodies, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, have done similar things. commitment To return donations from former FTX executives.
Bankman-Fried has donated millions of dollars to other PACs aligned with the Democratic Party, including the House Majority PAC, Protect Our Future, and Future Forward USA. Alameda Research, a hedge fund founded by Bankman-Fried, donated his $5.24 million to Future Forward USA, which spent millions to support Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential candidacy Did. These PACs did not respond to requests to comment on whether they would return donations.
Bankman-Fried donated about $40 million in the midterm elections, most of it to Democrats. Singh donated his $8 million to federal campaigns during the 2022 midterm elections. The former FTX Engineering Director has not been charged with any crime.
After Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas, PAC returned donations and faces indictments by US federal prosecutors, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Prosecutors charged Bankman-Fried with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud.
He was also charged with campaign finance violations, including allegations that he donated at least $25,000 to campaigns and political action committees “in someone else’s name.”
Bankman-Fried diverted client assets held by major cryptocurrency exchange FTX to another of his cryptocurrency hedge funds, Alameda Research, the SEC said in its complaint. He then used those funds to make “significant political contributions”, make investments and purchase “luxury real estate,” the SEC claimed.
Bankman-Fried has not responded to the accusations against him, but said at the recent New York Times DealBook Summit, “I never tried to defraud anyone.”
FTX announced Monday that it will attempt to collect donations made by Bankman-Fried and his colleagues.
“Unless such payments are voluntarily returned, FTX’s debtor intends to commence a lawsuit in bankruptcy court demanding the return of such payments, and interest will accrue from the date the lawsuit is commenced. ‘, the company said in a statement.
