5 ms·

https://www.wsj.com/articles/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-team-among-top-political-donors-before-bankruptcy-11668949205 https://www.wsj.com/articles/sam-bankman-fried-

by kyrra 4y ago

https://www.wsj.com/articles/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-team-among-top-political-donors-before-bankruptcy-11668949205 https://www.wsj.com/articles/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-team-amon... FTX and it's executives donated $70 million to politicians as well (in the last 18 months). SBF donated $40MM to Democrats, and a different executive donated $23MM to Republicans. They were trying to buy all kinds of influence.

conorcleary 4y ago
Let's hear what Ken Griffin has to say about the GOP receiving FTX money.
- GameOfFrowns 4y ago
  >Let's hear what Ken Griffin has to say about the GOP receiving FTX money. Did the GOP directly profit from those donations or did it go to a specific PAC to support the campaign of a specific politician who a had personal connection to FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Salame? There is a report that suggests the latter[0]. [0]https://www.theblock.co/post/160714/crypto-booster-michelle-bond-is-running-for-congress-with-help-from-her-ftx-exec-boyfriend https://www.theblock.co/post/160714/crypto-booster-michelle-...
samtho 4y ago
Not discounting any of the stuff that FTX has done or will come to light, but this practice of supporting “both sides” is a very common, by-the-book strategy for any special interest group or organization looking to buy influence and is flushed with money.
- skrebbel 4y ago
  I’m still baffled that this kind of corruption isn’t frowned upon more. People are buying influence. How is that supposed to be OK or normal?
  - greesil 4y ago
    Unavoidable now because of the Citizens United court decision. Of course it's bad, but what are you gonna do?
    - stephc_int13 4y ago
      Make noise about it. If you believe this is wrong, that is.
    - skrebbel 4y ago
      I don’t know, it’s not this prevalent everywhere so it is possible.
      - nradov 4y ago
        Yes, it is possible to amend the US Constitution to carve out an explicit exception in the 1st Amendment for political donations. So far Congress hasn't made a serious effort to do so.
        yccs27 4y ago
        I'm not really familiar with the US constitution, but doesn't the 1st Amendment only protect speech, petition and assembly? Is there some part I'm missing or did a court classify campaign donations as speech?
        krustyburger 4y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC
        yccs27 4y ago
        Ah thanks, that's what I was missing. Such a mindboggling decision.
- harry8 4y ago
  Well depending on how you define both sides. They are buying the regulation for themselves and against the people and yes this is very common and the people hate it.
jzmorganchase 4y ago
Pretty wild but I worked with the other executive here Ryan Salame at a different company before he worked at Alameda/FTX a few year ago. He was a fairly junior so it's sort of surreal to see that he became co-CEO and had enough liquid wealth to be donating $20m+ for political campaigns.
- vkou 4y ago
  Given how FTX was buying it's executives houses, I doubt that was his liquid wealth, I think he was just dipping into the FTX customer deposit piggy bank.
  - jzmorganchase 4y ago
    Yep that's the most likely scenario outside of secondary stock sales or personal sales of large amounts of FTT. What's weird about him though is he wasn't listed as one of the "close insiders" who allegedly knew about the transfers of customers funds from FTX -> Alameda despite being "co-CEO" and there from the beginning of FTX's creation.
alvah 4y ago
“and a different executive donated $23MM to Republicans” The different executive donated to his girlfriend, who is a Democrat but was running as a Republican. Make of that what you will.

by kyrra 4y ago

conorcleary 4y ago

Let's hear what Ken Griffin has to say about the GOP receiving FTX money.

GameOfFrowns 4y ago
>Let's hear what Ken Griffin has to say about the GOP receiving FTX money. Did the GOP directly profit from those donations or did it go to a specific PAC to support the campaign of a specific politician who a had personal connection to FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Salame? There is a report that suggests the latter[0]. [0]https://www.theblock.co/post/160714/crypto-booster-michelle-bond-is-running-for-congress-with-help-from-her-ftx-exec-boyfriend https://www.theblock.co/post/160714/crypto-booster-michelle-...

samtho 4y ago

Not discounting any of the stuff that FTX has done or will come to light, but this practice of supporting “both sides” is a very common, by-the-book strategy for any special interest group or organization looking to buy influence and is flushed with money.

skrebbel 4y ago
I’m still baffled that this kind of corruption isn’t frowned upon more. People are buying influence. How is that supposed to be OK or normal?
- greesil 4y ago
  Unavoidable now because of the Citizens United court decision. Of course it's bad, but what are you gonna do?
  - stephc_int13 4y ago
    Make noise about it. If you believe this is wrong, that is.
  - skrebbel 4y ago
    I don’t know, it’s not this prevalent everywhere so it is possible.
    - nradov 4y ago
      Yes, it is possible to amend the US Constitution to carve out an explicit exception in the 1st Amendment for political donations. So far Congress hasn't made a serious effort to do so.
      - yccs27 4y ago
        I'm not really familiar with the US constitution, but doesn't the 1st Amendment only protect speech, petition and assembly? Is there some part I'm missing or did a court classify campaign donations as speech?
        krustyburger 4y ago
        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC
        yccs27 4y ago
        Ah thanks, that's what I was missing. Such a mindboggling decision.
harry8 4y ago
Well depending on how you define both sides. They are buying the regulation for themselves and against the people and yes this is very common and the people hate it.

jzmorganchase 4y ago

Pretty wild but I worked with the other executive here Ryan Salame at a different company before he worked at Alameda/FTX a few year ago. He was a fairly junior so it's sort of surreal to see that he became co-CEO and had enough liquid wealth to be donating $20m+ for political campaigns.

vkou 4y ago
Given how FTX was buying it's executives houses, I doubt that was his liquid wealth, I think he was just dipping into the FTX customer deposit piggy bank.
- jzmorganchase 4y ago
  Yep that's the most likely scenario outside of secondary stock sales or personal sales of large amounts of FTT. What's weird about him though is he wasn't listed as one of the "close insiders" who allegedly knew about the transfers of customers funds from FTX -> Alameda despite being "co-CEO" and there from the beginning of FTX's creation.

alvah 4y ago

“and a different executive donated $23MM to Republicans” The different executive donated to his girlfriend, who is a Democrat but was running as a Republican. Make of that what you will.