US prosecutors probing Bankman-Fried’s political donations: NY Times

U.S. federal prosecutors are seeking more information about political donations made to Democrat and Republican lawmakers by former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and two executives he worked with, according to the New York Times, which cited unnamed sources.

Since Bankman-Fried was arrested on Monday, prosecutors have contacted “representatives for campaigns and committees that had received millions of dollars” from Bankman-Fried and colleagues at other companies he co-founded, the report said.

A prosecutor from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York sent an email to a law firm representing prominent Democratic political groups, requesting information about donations made by Bankman-Fried and colleagues, according to the New York Times. Campaign organizations, large super PACs and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries were among those emailed, the news outlet said.

Jeffries and other politicians have “either returned donations linked to FTX or gave the money to charity” in the wake of the cryptocurrency exchange’s scandalous collapse, according to the report.

Republican campaigns and committees are also being investigated for taking donations from an FTX executive “who was a top financier on the right,” said the New York Times, again citing an unnamed source.

Bankman-Fried has been arrested and is facing both criminal and civil fraud charges.

Disclaimer: Beginning in 2021, Michael McCaffrey, the former CEO and majority owner of The Block, took a series of loans from founder and former FTX and Alameda CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. McCaffrey resigned from the company in December 2022 after failing to disclose those transactions.

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