LONDON (Bywire News) - The three main Democratic Party campaign groups have announced plans to return more than $1.1 million in donations received from jailed cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried. In a statement, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) revealed that it would set aside $815,000 of the funds due to "potential campaign finance violations" by Bankman-Fried. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee stated that it would reserve $103,000, while the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which manages the party's campaign for the House of Representatives, plans to reserve $250,000. All three groups await guidance on what to do with the money due to the ongoing litigation.
Bankman-Fried, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was arrested in the Bahamas earlier this week on charges of misappropriating billions of dollars and violating campaign finance laws in what has been described as a of the largest financial frauds in the United States. Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried used the stolen money to make "tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions" and engaged in a scheme to defraud FTX clients by misusing their deposits for expenses and debts, as well as to make investments on behalf of your crypto hedge. fund, Alameda Research LLC.
Federal election revelations show that Bankman-Fried, whose fortune is valued at more than $20 billion, was one of the largest political donors during the midterm election cycle, giving approximately $40 million to groups and campaigns mostly aligned with Democrats. However, in an interview with freelance journalist Tiffany Fong, Bankman-Fried claimed that his donations were split evenly between Republicans and Democrats, and that his pro-Republican outlays were not disclosed to the public, a practice known as "money Dark". Bankman-Fried, who is currently in jail in the Bahamas, has apologized to clients but maintains his innocence.
By Gram Slattery
(Reporting by Gram Slattery in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone, Michael O'Sullivan and Matthew Lewis)
