5 ms·

FTX billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried funneled dark money to Republicans

57 points by jasonhansel 4y ago

ratsmack 4y ago
Hopefully, they claw back all of the donations regardless of political affiliation.
zthrowaway 4y ago
But let's not talk about the overwhelming donations to Democrats? https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2020/11/05/cryptocurrency-ceo-donated-second-largest-amount-to-joe-bidens-campaign/ https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2020/11/05/cryptocurrency-c...
- rhaway84773 4y ago
  They have been talked about a lot. The news is that we are discovering that he wasn’t just funneling money to Democrats. Even his public money was weighted towards Democrats 2:1…it’s not like he was publicly only donating to Democrats, but now it appears that overall he probably donated equally to both parties.
- sph 4y ago
  It's mentioned right there in the friggin article. > The crypto entrepreneur was thought to be a big donor to Democrats but now acknowledges he gave equally to GOP
  - hayd 4y ago
    He claims that he gave equally. Is there any evidence / corroboration?
    - Regnore 4y ago
      I agree that he’s not particularly trustworthy but what would be his motivation for lying here? I can’t come up with any.
      - tomjakubowski 4y ago
        If you believe Democratic politicians were in league with the fraud, this would be a way to deflect attention from that I guess. (to be clear, I don't believe that, and also see no reason he'd be lying. That doesn't mean there isn't one though - and he could also be lying for no reason)
      - UncleEntity 4y ago
        Well… His donations became a political hot potato so maybe they’re like “look, man, my hands are tied here so maybe if you can deflect some of this heat we can work something out.” Voila, millions of untraceable donations to the republicans.
    - janalsncm 4y ago
      Not in the article. Maybe he’s telling the truth this time but who knows. To me the bigger story is that he was able to give a million dollars in influence money at all, although I guess that shouldn’t be surprising.
- moistly 4y ago
  If you weren’t aware of the orgiastic frenzy over his donations to democrats… I dunno, you been living in a cave this past month? Posted seven times on HN: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=bankman%20democrats&sort=byDate&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... I wonder, if I searched those threads, would I find your alias?
ffwacom 4y ago
The vast vast majority was to Democrats though. Unbelievable pilpul.
- jasonhansel 4y ago
  He said that he donated roughly equal amounts to both parties, as stated in the article.
  - ffwacom 4y ago
    Yeah, just conveniently they were ‘dark’, so can’t be substantiated.
    - jafo 4y ago
      How are 'dark' donations not afoul of campaign finance laws?? Or is this just another SBF lie?
      - rhaway84773 4y ago
        Citizens United. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC
      - hotpotamus 4y ago
        It's some Supreme Court interpretation of free speech plus legislation. I remember Al Franken talking about this a bit in the context of a law requiring disclosure that he supported but was not successful. Looks like the dynamic hasn't changed much since he talked about it. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-make-remarks-tuesday-election-transparency-bill-2022-09-20/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-make-remarks-tuesday-...
    - jasonhansel 4y ago
      Why would he be lying about this?
legitster 4y ago
>“I donated to both parties. I donated about the same amount to both parties,” Bankman-Fried told the crypto commentator and citizen journalist Tiffany Fong. >“All my Republican donations were dark,” he said, referring to political donations that are not publicly disclosed. “The reason was not for regulatory reasons, it’s because reporters freak the fuck out if you donate to Republicans. They’re all super liberal, and I didn’t want to have that fight.” Well, that's brazenly honest, I guess.
- benzible 4y ago
  So, take the massive fraudster at his word when he supports your pre-existing beliefs? Do you also believe that parties interested in supplying billions in funding contacted him just after he signed the bankruptcy paperwork, as he's also recently claimed?
- jerkstate 4y ago
  he says he made donations based on covid policies. which republicans had covid policies that he would have agreed with? honestly this sounds like deflection, why should we believe it without any evidence?
  - ulfw 4y ago
    Maybe he liked horse dewormer or UV blasting people's insides or drinking bleach?
    - _aavaa_ 4y ago
      The UV blasting is an actual medical treatment that has been worked on for a while before that tweet… https://www.wsj.com/articles/an-experimental-ultraviolet-light-treatment-for-covid-19-takes-political-heat-11588005938 https://www.wsj.com/articles/an-experimental-ultraviolet-lig...
      - jerkstate 4y ago
        so is using disinfectant inside the body, almost a cleaning: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8026810/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8026810/
hayd 4y ago
Allegedly. (We should be extremely sceptical of anything SBF claims, rather than publish it as fact - which the headline does.)

57 points by jasonhansel 4y ago

Hopefully, they claw back all of the donations regardless of political affiliation.

But let's not talk about the overwhelming donations to Democrats? https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2020/11/05/cryptocurrency-ceo-donated-second-largest-amount-to-joe-bidens-campaign/ https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2020/11/05/cryptocurrency-c...

rhaway84773 4y ago
They have been talked about a lot. The news is that we are discovering that he wasn’t just funneling money to Democrats. Even his public money was weighted towards Democrats 2:1…it’s not like he was publicly only donating to Democrats, but now it appears that overall he probably donated equally to both parties.
sph 4y ago
It's mentioned right there in the friggin article. > The crypto entrepreneur was thought to be a big donor to Democrats but now acknowledges he gave equally to GOP
- hayd 4y ago
  He claims that he gave equally. Is there any evidence / corroboration?
  - Regnore 4y ago
    I agree that he’s not particularly trustworthy but what would be his motivation for lying here? I can’t come up with any.
    - tomjakubowski 4y ago
      If you believe Democratic politicians were in league with the fraud, this would be a way to deflect attention from that I guess. (to be clear, I don't believe that, and also see no reason he'd be lying. That doesn't mean there isn't one though - and he could also be lying for no reason)
    - UncleEntity 4y ago
      Well… His donations became a political hot potato so maybe they’re like “look, man, my hands are tied here so maybe if you can deflect some of this heat we can work something out.” Voila, millions of untraceable donations to the republicans.
  - janalsncm 4y ago
    Not in the article. Maybe he’s telling the truth this time but who knows. To me the bigger story is that he was able to give a million dollars in influence money at all, although I guess that shouldn’t be surprising.
moistly 4y ago
If you weren’t aware of the orgiastic frenzy over his donations to democrats… I dunno, you been living in a cave this past month? Posted seven times on HN: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=bankman%20democrats&sort=byDate&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu... I wonder, if I searched those threads, would I find your alias?

ffwacom 4y ago

The vast vast majority was to Democrats though. Unbelievable pilpul.

jasonhansel 4y ago
He said that he donated roughly equal amounts to both parties, as stated in the article.
- ffwacom 4y ago
  Yeah, just conveniently they were ‘dark’, so can’t be substantiated.
  - jafo 4y ago
    How are 'dark' donations not afoul of campaign finance laws?? Or is this just another SBF lie?
    - rhaway84773 4y ago
      Citizens United. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._FEC
    - hotpotamus 4y ago
      It's some Supreme Court interpretation of free speech plus legislation. I remember Al Franken talking about this a bit in the context of a law requiring disclosure that he supported but was not successful. Looks like the dynamic hasn't changed much since he talked about it. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-make-remarks-tuesday-election-transparency-bill-2022-09-20/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-make-remarks-tuesday-...
  - jasonhansel 4y ago
    Why would he be lying about this?

legitster 4y ago

>“I donated to both parties. I donated about the same amount to both parties,” Bankman-Fried told the crypto commentator and citizen journalist Tiffany Fong. >“All my Republican donations were dark,” he said, referring to political donations that are not publicly disclosed. “The reason was not for regulatory reasons, it’s because reporters freak the fuck out if you donate to Republicans. They’re all super liberal, and I didn’t want to have that fight.” Well, that's brazenly honest, I guess.

benzible 4y ago
So, take the massive fraudster at his word when he supports your pre-existing beliefs? Do you also believe that parties interested in supplying billions in funding contacted him just after he signed the bankruptcy paperwork, as he's also recently claimed?
jerkstate 4y ago
he says he made donations based on covid policies. which republicans had covid policies that he would have agreed with? honestly this sounds like deflection, why should we believe it without any evidence?
- ulfw 4y ago
  Maybe he liked horse dewormer or UV blasting people's insides or drinking bleach?
  - _aavaa_ 4y ago
    The UV blasting is an actual medical treatment that has been worked on for a while before that tweet… https://www.wsj.com/articles/an-experimental-ultraviolet-light-treatment-for-covid-19-takes-political-heat-11588005938 https://www.wsj.com/articles/an-experimental-ultraviolet-lig...
    - jerkstate 4y ago
      so is using disinfectant inside the body, almost a cleaning: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8026810/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8026810/

hayd 4y ago

Allegedly. (We should be extremely sceptical of anything SBF claims, rather than publish it as fact - which the headline does.)