OPINION:
A series of updated indictments against accused billion-dollar fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried have expanded the criminal case from digital coins to the smarmy world of campaign finance.
The latest 13-count indictment opens a window to how Mr. Bankman-Fried allegedly commingled people’s money at his crypto exchange, FTX, with his companion Alameda Research trading arm and then spent it. This means he played with clients’ money to pay politicians. All his millions in donations can be viewed as tainted, including cash for President Biden’s 2020 campaign and both political parties.
For the 2022 midterms, federal prosecutors in Manhattan say he illegally positioned two of his FTX-Alameda Research executives as frontmen. They then made substantial donations in their names, although the money came from Mr. Bankman-Fried’s Bahamas-ensconced crypto empire.
The Department of Justice avoids talking about 2020, the year Mr. Bankman-Fried emerged as a major donor for Mr. Biden. But since the indictment says the fraud ran from 2019 through 2022, with Mr. Bankman-Fried “misappropriating” customer deposits to “pay expenses and debts of Alameda to make investments and for other purposes,” we can assume that cash inappropriately went to politicians.
Socialist financier George Soros, like the pre-scandalized Mr. Bankman-Fried, basks in favorable liberal media coverage. The no-borders, no-police billionaire donates huge sums to buy U.S. policies.
An example is Alvin Bragg, the New York district attorney who brought an indictment against former President Donald Trump. Mr. Soros reportedly financed Mr. Bragg’s 2021 campaign through a $1 million donation to the Color of Change, a political action committee committed to electing hard-left DAs. He has funded other urban prosecutors who don’t like to prosecute. They hate their jobs as traditionally defined as protecting the public from committed criminals.
Mr. Bragg runs a revolving door that lets the crooks go right back out on the street to victimize low-income neighborhoods. Mr. Soros finances no-police groups as he resides in a comfortable suburban hamlet that has a 50-person police force that is not being defunded.
The 2020 Biden-Trump election marked the first time Mr. Bankman-Fried, after just one year of crypto magic, made substantial contributions to Mr. Biden, so much money that he landed in the top 10 of all donors, according to numbers from OpenSecrets.org. I placed Mr. Bankman-Fried among the Democratic elites by adding together FTX and Alameda Research contributions. He founded and directed both, as the new federal indictment explains.
Mr. Bankman-Fried’s elevation in 2020 to Soros-like altitudes cannot be overstated. The cash caught the eye of the Biden-favoring press, which proceeded to anoint him as the most significant capitalist since Steve Jobs and J.P. Morgan.
FTX gave $5 million to Future Forward USA, the richest Biden-aligned Political Action Committee. Meanwhile, Alameda, his political slush fund, chipped in over $6 million, as Mr. Biden received $1.6 billion.
FactCheck.org said that Future Forward “directed the vast majority of its independent expenditures to support Biden in his campaign against then-President Donald Trump, spending more than $74 million on ads supporting Biden and about $54 million opposing Trump.”
For 2022, Mr. Bankman-Fried, in his name, gave a total of $40 million, overwhelmingly to Democrats, making him the second-highest donor next to — you guessed it — George Soros. Meanwhile, the FTX lobbying effort went from a paltry $50,000 in 2021 to $640,000 that year, OpenSecrets reported.
Mr. Bankman-Fried touted his PAC, Protect Our Future, as a force to stop the next pandemic. It actually just gave money to various run-of-the-mill Democrats and campaign groups who have no special powers to stop viruses.
Days after the election, the FTX CEO declared bankruptcy. CoinDesk.com had disclosed Alameda’s horrible financial status, and a run on the bank ensued.
The updated indictment tells of how Mr. Bankman-Fried was just as devious with realpolitik as he was with virtual money.
He tapped two executives (unnamed in the indictment) to make huge donations under their names, some to Democrats, some to Republicans. Nishad Singh, his technology chief, subsequently pleaded guilty to being a straw man for Democratic money.
Ryan Salame, FTX’s co-CEO beginning in September 2021, is listed on federal election reports as giving tens of millions of dollars to Republicans. He has not been charged with a crime.
Mr. Bankman-Fried’s motive: He did not want his name associated with Republicans, and he did not want to be looked at as a left-wing partisan, the indictment explains.
(Footnote: Mr. Singh gave over $1 million to Mr. Biden in 2020 under the listed employment of Alameda Research, which itself provided $5 million. The indictment says that for 2022 Bankman-Fried “used Alameda to siphon off FTX’s customer funds and deploy them for political causes.”)
Mr. Bankman-Fried and his two corporate friends contributed $77 million during the 2021-22 midterm campaign cycle, according to OpenSecrets.org, nearly double the $40 million first reported but still shy of Mr. Soros’ left-wing largesse of $129 million. You see why Democrats love him and his anti-America agenda.
Under his name, Mr. Salame gave over $20 million to Republican-aligned PACs, plus the maximum $2,900 directly to a number of GOP candidates. Mr. Singh funneled over $15 million to Democratic-supporting PACs.
All along, the real funder was Mr. Bankman-Fried, who now faces charges of violating federal campaign laws in addition to wire fraud.
In late February, Mr. Singh, 27, became the third Bankman-Fried crony to appear in court to plead guilty to a host of fraud charges and to cooperate with prosecutors against his old boss.
FTX’s bankruptcy CEO, John J. Ray III, wants politicians and PACs to return all the money. A February press release said: “Funds can be Returned by Contacting Special Email Account at “FTXrepay@ftx.us.”
• Rowan Scarborough is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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