Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and chief executive officer of FTX Cryptocurrency Derivatives Exchange, speaks throughout the Institute of International Finance (IIF) annual membership meeting in Washington, DC, on Thursday, Oct. 13, 2022.
Ting Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday accused FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who made nearly $40 million in publicly disclosed political donations within the 2022 election cycle, with violating multiple campaign finance laws.
A newly unsealed indictment in Manhattan federal court says Bankman-Fried and others violated quite a few federal campaign finance laws, including giving contributions of at the least $25,000 to campaigns and political motion committees “within the names of other individuals.”
Prosecutors said there was a conspiracy by Bankman-Fried and others to also make “corporate contributions” to candidates and political motion committees within the Southern District of Latest York “that were reported within the name of one other person.
The campaign finance conspiracy charge, which is included amongst multiple other criminal counts against the fallen crypto exchange CEO, comes days after a personal watchdog group asked the Federal Election Commission to research Bankman-Fried for campaign finance violations.
The watchdog, Residents for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said Bankman-Fried admitted he donated so-called dark money to Republican-aligned groups throughout the 2022 primary season. Those donations wouldn’t have been disclosed in FEC filings.
The criticism by the group quotes an interview last month by Bankman-Fried. That interview suggests he donated as much as $37 million or more to GOP-linked campaign efforts in a way that avoided legally required public disclosure of those contribution, CREW alleged.
Most of Bankman-Fried’s publicly disclose campaign contributions went toward Democrats, FEC records show.
But FTX itself donated $1 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, an excellent PAC aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
That source of that contribution, in line with the filing, is labeled as being from West Realm Shires Services, the trading name for FTX.
West Realm Shires Services also contributed $750,000 to the Congressional Leadership Fund, an excellent PAC that backs Republicans running for House seats and supported by the House Republican leadership.
Follow CNBC’s live blog covering Tuesday’s hearing on the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX before the House Financial Services Committee.Â
