Newly Bankrupt FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Spent $1.2 Million Supporting Two Florida Democrats Via Super PAC: Open Secrets
ORLANDO (FLV) – Cryptocurrency trading firm FTX’s Founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who recently resigned after his company filed for bankruptcy amid a liquidity crisis, donated $27 million to the Protect Our Future PAC, which spent over $1.2 million on two Florida Democrats who were elected to U.S. Congress last week.
According to Open Secrets, the PAC spent $963,177 in support of Democrat Maxwell Frost, who won the 10th Congressional District Seat, and $262,426 for Jared Moskowitz, who won the 23rd Congressional District Seat, totaling $1,225,603.
The PAC supported 25 Democrats in Congressional races this cycle – with 18 candidates coming out on top.
Finances Under Investigation
Bankman-Fried’s finances have been called into question following the company’s collapse last week.
On Sunday, authorities in the Bahamas said they are investigating potential criminal misconduct.
Bankman-Fried and FTX are also being investigated by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission, because they may have “used customers’ deposits to fund bets at Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund, Alameda Research, a violation of U.S. securities law.”
FTX confirmed there was “unauthorized access to its accounts, hours after the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Friday,” according to the AP.
Newly appointed CEO John Ray responded on Twitter saying, “We have been in contact with, and are coordinating with law enforcement and relevant regulators.”
Possible Ties to Ukraine
Fox News reports the company launched a website, Aid for Ukraine, to raise funds for Ukrainians amid the ongoing war against Russia – which was started by the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, FTX and Ukrainian-web company Everstake.
“Why on earth the American taxpayer is funneling tens of billions of dollars over to Ukraine so that they can fight Russia, and why on earth they would be involved, the Ukrainian government, with this now collapsed cryptocurrency exchange we need to know,” New York Post columnist Miranda Devine said on “Tucker Carlson Tonight.”
Coindesk previously reported back in March that the company was “converting crypto contributions to Ukraine’s war effort into fiat for deposit at the National Bank of Ukraine.”
Babylon Bee’s CEO Seth Dillon tweeted, “So Biden gave loads of money to Ukraine, who gave loads of money to FTX, who gave loads of money to Democrats. Sounds like a potentially massive scandal the media will have absolutely no interest in covering.”
Critics responded to the news, with one user saying, “I wonder how @MaxwellFrostFL feels about his political career being launched on the back of massive financial fraud at FTX. SBF gave Protect Our Future Pac $27 million and it endorsed 25 Democrats in congressional races, including Maxwell Frost.”
Bankman-Fried is the 2nd leading Democrat PAC donor from the 2022 cycle, right behind George Soros who spent $128 million, according to Open Secrets.
Florida’s Voice reached out to both campaigns for comment and will update if a response is received.
