It’s old news that disgraced crypto currency conman Sam Bankman-Fried gave bigly to Democrats including a few well-known New Jersey Democrats.
Now, mere days after a judge revoked his bail for alleged witness tampering, federal prosecutors dropped an amended inctiment on Monday; FTX’s Bankman-Fried stansds accused of handing out $100 million in political campaign contributions during the 2022 cycle which were dervied from stolen FTX funds.
Bankman Fried had previously been charged with campaign finance law violations. Prosecutors backed off, however, when the Bahamas objected on the grounds that campaign finance charges weren’t part of the extradition agreement.
Who received donations in the Garden State?
- Andy Kim
- Tom Malinowski
- Mikie Sherrill
- The New Jersey Democrat State Committee (NJDSC)
- The Jersey Democrat Victory Fund
- Bob Menednez Jr.
- Cory Booker
- Josh Gottheimer
Some groups and candidates including the NJDSC announced plans to return the cash after Bankman-Fried’s spiral began late last year.
The lingering question: what exactly did Bankman-Fried plan to get for his donations?
“He leveraged this influence, in turn, to lobby Congress and regulatory agencies to support legislation and regulation he believed would make it easier for FTX to continue to accept customer deposits and grow,” explains the Southern District of New York indictment.
We’ll see. At least I hope we do.
