Sam Bankman-Fried Accused of Using $100 Million In Stolen Funds for Political Donations

Updated: 15 August 2023

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Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, secretly funneled more than $100 million in stolen funds into the U.S. political system in an attempt to bend crypto legislation to his will, federal prosecutors alleged on Monday.

SBF used stolen customer funds to make more than $100 million in campaign contributions ahead of the 2022 U.S. midterms, per a new federal indictment.

Numerous members, PACs, and Congressional representatives have not given the funds back still.

Here is the breakdown. pic.twitter.com/fkQuinZ7e5

— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) August 14, 2023

An amended superseding indictment accused the 31-year-old former billionaire of directing two FTX executives to evade contribution limits by donating to Democrats and Republicans and concealing where the money came from.

Bankman-Fried was sent to jail on Friday at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center when the judge revoked his $250 million bond for alleged witness tampering.

Judge Kaplan: I am focused on the possibility that he will be detained at the MDC, not on anyone's list of five star facilities. That said, I understand he could have a dedicated laptop at the MDC [Many have it – James Garlick, for example] 9, 10, 11 hours a day

— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) August 11, 2023

Prosecutors dismissed a campaign finance charge against Bankman-Fried in July to respect an extradition treaty with the Bahamas, where his company FTX was based. However, last week the prosecutors noted that they would continue with the campaign finance allegations as part of concurrent fraud and money laundering charges.

Looping the scheme into the original money laundering and wire fraud charges that the Bahamas signed off on, prosecutors stated that Bankman-Fried donated generously outside legal limits through straw donors to ‘’politicians in both parties ahead of the 2022 midterms.’’

Monday’s indictment read:

‘’The fact that the defendant engaged not in lawful giving on behalf of FTX but instead used straw donors to hide the trustworthy source of funds and deceptively increase his influence on policy making demonstrates the strength of his desire to purchase political clout — a desire so great that he stole customer funds to satisfy it.’’

Nonetheless, the prosecutors on Monday asked U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to bar Bankman-Fried from arguing at his October trial that FTX customers “were negligent, gullible, or insufficiently vigilant.” Notably, they argued that SBF shouldn’t be able to convince the jury that he intended to repay his alleged victims.

Prosecutors plan to query three of SBF’s convicted former allies. They include FTX co-founder Gary Wang, head of engineering Nishad Singh, and Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, on the witness stand. In addition, they expect to call “multiple former employees of Alameda and FTX, several of the defendant’s customer, lender, and investor victims, and an expert witness whose financial analysis will show the nature and extent of the fraud.

Will Bankman-Fried Escape Prison?

FTX was a popular digital assets exchange that allowed clients to buy, sell, and bet on the future prices of cryptocurrencies.

Before its collapse in November, Bankman-Fried appeared to be a shining star. An MIT graduate, he had previously said he gave money to the Democratic Party. After the collapse of FTX, he also admitted in a Youtube interview to donating to Republicans as well.

Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to a series of interconnected charges that allegedly saw him siphon over a billion dollars from his global cryptocurrency exchange, partly to pay off his hedge fund Alameda Research’s debts. He could face over 100 years in prison if convicted. Bankman-Fried’s trial is expected to commence in October.