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Bankman-Fried used $100M in stolen FTX funds for political donations, US says
- EvelynJohnson 3y ago[dead]
- Terencestuart 3y ago[dead]
- Elizabeth22 3y ago[dead]
- Colin6Grant 3y ago[dead]
- Stevenedward 3y ago[dead]
- paulpauper 3y agoand it looks like those donations will get him nowhere.
- umeshunni 3y agoWe don't know that yet...
- koolba 3y ago[flagged]
- acdha 3y agoHe’s hardly in a maximum security prison with that kind of risk of violence, and HN really doesn’t need random conspiracy theories.
- thegrim22 3y agoThe guy you're replying to took the data as he saw it, formed a hypothesis that matched the data, and the hypothesis makes a prediction which can be validated. Is it an unlikely/weak hypothesis? Sure. But you're asking him to just throw away thought/science, to not try to explain the world.
- acdha 3y agoWhat data did he take? Be precise and especial give attention to the leaps from “SBF is being prosecuted” to “SBF is being setup for assassination”. The only facts are what we already knew: he’s being prosecuted and that after repeatedly violating the terms of a legal agreement he’s getting the consequences he agreed to. That leaves the most likely explanation that the most anodyne explanation is true: an entitled rich man called the judge’s bluff and is learning that federal judges don’t appreciate that. Everything else is a flight of fancy with no support other than people steeped in right-wing propaganda would really like them to be true. There’s no reason to believe he knows anything damaging to the DNC, that such hypothetical evidence could only come out from his testimony, that it would be worth murder to keep quiet, or that it would be easiest to kill him in prison. Someone dying in government custody would draw a lot of attention – he’s going to Club Fed with other white collar criminals, not the problem wing at a super max facility, and other embezzlers tend not to shank people since they do expect to get out early for good behavior. If you were a screenwriter, the movie version would have our hypothetical government conspiracy keeping him out of jail so he could more easily be assassinated at home with evidence planted to make it look like someone who lost their fortune with FTX because his parent’s house is a much softer target and there are thousands of people with that motive and none of them are feds. Once you’re just making things up you can easily come up with a chain of make-believe supporting any side imaginable.
- ImPostingOnHN 3y agoyou're describing what all conspiracy theorists claim to do if the unvalidated, hole-filled hypothesis (which DOESN'T, in fact, match the data) can indeed be validated, then validate it and report the process and results of validation short of that, the unvalidated, hole-filled hypothesis which doesn't match the data, seems unlikely, given the millions of donations to republicans
- msgilligan 3y agoThey got him far. But eventually he flew too close to the sun.
- vxNsr 3y ago[flagged]
- mustafa_pasi 3y agoSocialist?
- gochi 3y agoThe article says he donated to DNC and to GOP (through Salame) to eradicate anti-crypto sentiment among lawmakers. Not so sure about the desire to create a socialist pet.
- TechBro8615 3y agoHe donated like 3 grand to the GOP.
- ceejayoz 3y ago> An amended indictment accused the 31-year-old former billionaire of directing two FTX executives to evade contribution limits by donating to Democrats and Republicans, and to conceal where the money came from. > Bankman-Fried's indictment does not name the two people prosecutors say he used for "straw donors" to donate money at his direction. But other court papers and Federal Elections Commission data show they are Nishad Singh and Ryan Salame. > Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX's Bahamian unit, gave more than $24 million to Republican candidates and causes in the 2022 election cycle, according to Federal Election Commision data. This is all right there in the article. FTX had their fingers solidly in both pies.
- TechBro8615 3y agoWhy are these numbers so different from the original FEC complaint? [0] > Consequently, based on available data, Mr. Bankman-Fried is the disclosed source of approximately $37,768,312 in contributions to Democratic candidates, parties, and aligned outside organizations in the 2022 cycle. In contrast, Mr. Bankman-Fried is the disclosed source of approximately $320,400 in contributions to Republican candidates, parties, and aligned outside organizations in the 2022 cycle. And lest you think these are your typical MAGA republicans receiving the money, they are all the most RINO, uniparty republicans you can imagine [1]: > Since July, Bankman-Fried has made $5,800 contributions, the maximum individuals can give directly to Congressional campaigns, to the committees of Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and Richard Burr [0] https://www.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/SBF-FEC-Complaint-FINAL.pdf https://www.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/12... [1] https://www.rightjournalism.com/its-not-the-dems-only-ftx-founder-sam-bankman-fried-donated-to-these-seven-republican-senators/ https://www.rightjournalism.com/its-not-the-dems-only-ftx-fo...
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- option 3y agoyou are an unreasonable optimist.
- cool_dude85 3y agoDidn't he already have some very prominent 1st amendment lawyer writing legal briefs about how not letting him intimidate witnesses was a big 1st amendment issue? Sure, his money spends, maybe the guy would have done it for anyone who paid enough, but I suspect all these prior donations helped grease the wheel for that kind of thing, a lot.
- claytonjy 3y agoYes, that lawyer was Lawrence Tribe.
- SoftTalker 3y ago> and it looks like those donations will get him nowhere. ...because there are not any more coming.
- mufti_menk 3y ago[flagged]
- ncann 3y agoFunny how because these are "donation" and "lobbying" but not "bribe" there is no consequence for the receiving party and also no recuperation of the money.
- crazygringo 3y agoIt's quite common for politicians to return money that is stolen/foreign/otherwise when they find out. Sometimes because the law requires it, but also if they don't, the attack ad for their opponent writes itself. Although obviously it depends on how much time has passed and whether the money should already be considered "spent". Because even if the politician wants to repay it, new donors want their money going to re-election activities, not going to repay FTX. After a period of time, you might as well be asking the television stations to return the money they received for running the campaign ads, which... isn't gonna happen.
- lacrimacida 3y ago> Because even if the politician wants to repay it, new donors want their money going to re-election activities, not going to repay FTX. After a period of time, you might as well be asking the television stations to return the money they received for running the campaign ads, which... isn't gonna happen. Politicians should be made to pay out of their own pockets or have an insurance for this type of situation.
- wongarsu 3y ago> Politicians should be made to pay out of their own pockets We don't want to create a system where only the rich can afford to be politicians ... or at least we don't want to make that any worse than it already is
- lacrimacida 3y agoWell, they should know their sources and assume some responsibility, which they mostly lack these days.
- unyttigfjelltol 3y agoIn a just and fair world, the lawmakers elected by corrupt crypto-barons' misappropriation would be chastened. Unfortunately, we don't seem to live in that world.
- jagged-chisel 3y ago“Funny, I've always believed that the world is what we make of it”
- mistermann 3y agoAnother instance, and a nice site: https://www.reellifewisdom.com/proactive_i_ve_always_believed_that_the_world_is_what_we_make_of_it https://www.reellifewisdom.com/proactive_i_ve_always_believe...
- efitz 3y ago[flagged]
- ceejayoz 3y agoDavid Weiss is the prosecutor 31 Senate Republicans specifically requested not long ago. https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Hunter-Biden-Special-Counsel-Letter-FINAL-2.pdf https://www.cornyn.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Hun... > Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) does not think much of the appointment of U.S. Attorney David Weiss as special counsel for the Justice Department’s investigation into Hunter Biden, the president’s son. > Attorney General Merrick Garland “knows Weiss will protect Hunter,” Blackburn scoffed in a social media post on Saturday. > But Weiss’ appointment is exactly what she and other congressional Republicans requested. Special counsel is the same designation Garland gave Jack Smith, currently prosecuting former President Donald Trump. > Last September, a group of 31 Senate Republicans, including Blackburn, asked specifically for Weiss to be appointed to oversee the probe to “provide additional assurances to the American people that the Hunter Biden investigation is free from political influence.” Weiss had already led the investigation into his business dealings, which began under President Donald Trump. https://news.yahoo.com/republicans-mad-got-hunter-biden-222225202.html https://news.yahoo.com/republicans-mad-got-hunter-biden-2222... Y'all need to make up your minds.
- efitz 3y agoI didn’t say anything negative about David Weiss nor am I republican. Why do defensive?
- ImPostingOnHN 3y ago> Y'all need to make up your minds it's unclear what you're even talking about here. Who is y'all? What does y'all need to make their minds up about?
- ceejayoz 3y agoThe parent poster referenced David Weiss, the newly appointed special counsel in the Hunter Biden case, implying that SBF needs him to give a sweetheart deal of some kind ("pre trial diversion", "immunize... from other charges").
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 3y ago"An amended indictment accused the 31-year-old former billionaire of directing two FTX executives to evade contribution limits by donating to Democrats and Republicans, and to conceal where the money came from." Here is the amended indictment. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590940/gov.uscourts.nysd.590940.202.0.pdf https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.59... "9. As noted above, SAMUEL BANKMAN-FRIED, a/k/a "SBF," the defendant, also used misappropriated customer money to help fund over $100 million in political contributions in advance of the 2022 election. At BANKMAN-FRIED's direction, and to conceal the source of the funds used for the contributions, some of the political contributions were made in the names of FTX executives, including Nishad Singh. To conceal the fact that the Alameda account containing FTX customer deposits was a source of the donations, BANKMAN-FRIED directed that money from the Alameda account be wired to these executives' personal bank accounts, and that these executives then make donations in their own names. By directing donations through Singh and another FTX executive, BANKMAN-FRIED was able to evade restrictions on certain types of political contributions, and thereby maximize FTX's political influence. He leveraged this influence, in turn, to lobby Congress and regulatory agencies to support legislation and regulation he believed would make it easier for FTX to continue to accept customer deposits and grow, which would, in turn, allow the misappropriation scheme to continue. BANKMAN-FRIED also used these connections with politicians and government officials to falsely burnish the public image of FTX as a legitimate exchange."
- guywithahat 3y ago[flagged]
- neom 3y agoIn a call he had with Tiffany Fong that she recorded, he talked about how he donated equally to both of them and that he couldn't care less about the politics, but he hid the republican ones considerably better because he felt the media companies would have hung him out to dry for the republican ones. I can't remember exactly what video it's in, but I very distinctly remember him talking about it. https://www.youtube.com/@TiffanyFong/ https://www.youtube.com/@TiffanyFong/
- pezo1919 3y agoFixing the title: US political donations used Bankman-Fried for stolen $100 mln in FTX funds
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- harry8 3y agoSeems relevant to much of the discussion here. https://unusualwhales.com/politics/article/senate_ftx https://unusualwhales.com/politics/article/senate_ftx
- pyuser583 3y ago[flagged]
- FredPret 3y agoIt's kind of cool that even a $100m political bribe doesn't buy you immunity
- berniedurfee 3y agoWe shall see where he ends up after the dust settles. Most likely on a yacht somewhere after a few months of house detention.
- GneissFrog 3y agoWell, that $100m didn't go towards obtaining immunity, it was contributed to campaign funds for the purpose of lobbying. He wanted legislation favorable to FTX.
- foxyv 3y agoYou can bribe a corrupt official or politician for a short period. However, unless you can blackmail or continue supporting them, they won't continue to stay bribed. Once FTX went bankrupt they lost their limited immunity to political consequences. They were too clumsy to engage in the sophisticated schemes used by other lobbyists and PACs to ensure that politicians stay "bribed." If you want to see how a criminal organization can truly become legitimized through corruption of political structures, Uber is a great example. They managed to create a decentralized illegal Taxi company in the most public manner possible. https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/10/uber-files-leak-reveals-global-lobbying-campaign https://www.theguardian.com/news/2022/jul/10/uber-files-leak...
- game_the0ry 3y agoThe funds should be easy to audit and claw back from the political recipients and distribute back to the victims, right? ...right? /S
- BoxFour 3y agoIt’s not uncommon for a bankruptcy court to initiate a clawback of payments like this.
- game_the0ry 3y agoGiven the political nature of the fraud, I am not confident that will happen, but I am hopeful.
- BoxFour 3y agoWhy would a bankruptcy court judge care about that? They have pretty long terms and they’re not appointed by congress.
- game_the0ry 3y agoEveryone, judges included, have their biases that they usually not aware of.
- BoxFour 3y agoThe implication you're making is that the result is essentially unknowable and also implies your opinion on this is spurious: We might as well equally assume the judge is biased against legislators and is eager to claw back the donations. The way the judge’s biases lie and how they might affect their decisions is essentially a random unknowable variable, unless you have good information on this particular judge to support your claim.
- blitzar 3y agoGiven the political nature of the fraud, I am MORE confident that will happen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_theory
- hnburnsy 3y agoCoindesk had a good report on this... https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/01/17/congress-ftx-problem-1-in-3-members-got-cash-from-crypto-exchanges-bosses/ https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/01/17/congress-ftx-prob... >Congress' FTX Problem: 1 in 3 Members Got Cash From Crypto Exchange's Bosses The session began with 196 U.S. lawmakers who took direct contributions from Sam Bankman-Fried and other former FTX executives, and many of them are still trying to get rid of it.
- copeifudontlike 3y ago[flagged]
- dralley 3y agoThere's been a flood of temp accounts posting political comments today. This one is 8 minutes old at time of posting. There were 3 or 4 accounts earlier today posting about Assange and "anti-Russian Nazi propaganda" and defending the imprisonment of Navalny, most of which were either created in the past 24 hours or have posted exclusively about those topics since their creation. Interesting.
- donottell 3y ago[flagged]
- hn_throwaway_99 3y agoI think a particularly interesting part of this filing is that SBF intended to influence both Republicans and Democrats equally - all he cared about was weeding out "anti-crypto" politicians, he just funneled the money to the Dems through himself and Singh, and funneled the money through the Republicans through Salame.
- sharts 3y agoAnd nothing will fundamentally change.
- JOnAgain 3y agoBetter than Russia, tho, right?
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- YeBanKo 3y agoThe whole scheme strikes me as … unsophisticated, especially for two math geniuses.
- permo-w 3y agoin my experience being good at maths doesn't reliably indicate you're good at anything wildly beyond maths. often some related subjects like programming, but not always
- YeBanKo 3y agoThis can be said about anything. It also appears that they were good specifically at competitive math problem solving. Which one can say even more narrow area of math. Nevertheless, it does correlate with general intelligence and they were a able sell a snake oil to a bunch of investors, so some level of competence they did poses. However, just taking customers’ moneys directly and wiring it straight to execs’ bank accounts is just… too simplistic. Good old donation to a little soccer league where a politician’s spouse sits on the board has more logistics to it.
- waveBidder 3y agois there any evidence they're actually good at math?
- permo-w 3y agoI have no idea
- Melting_Harps 3y ago> is there any evidence they're actually good at math? Both went to MIT and Stanford respectively, then went on to be professional traders (Jane Street Capital); now, one wouldn't think that was all because of who their parents were, right? As in this only possible because of their own merit to be sure. That is how this system works, after all! Honestly, I went to private school, and these idiots reminded me of the children of the affluent who were so irredeemably stupid that their parents will stop at nothing to hide their shame and just pay to have them have some role in a freinds company just to offload them. There is an interview of her saying on record that she doesn't use or need anything she learned in her math degree to do what she does and man... did that come back to bite her in the ass!
- jamesdwilson 3y agotitle correction: over $100 million >"9. As noted above, SAMUEL BANKMAN-FRIED, a/k/a "SBF," the defendant, also used misappropriated customer money to help fund over $100 million in political contributions "
- sschueller 3y agoSo does only the donator get punished here and not as well the recipient? Isn't it generally the case if you receive stolen goods they can be take away? I think there should be an exception specificity for political donations where the recipient is just as much in trouble for an illegal donation as the party sending it.
- permo-w 3y agowith regards to the second half of your comment, I suspect this is a belief coloured by your distaste for the political system in general. This is understandable, but not really fair Yes the political donation system is horrendous, and yes both parties are as a result corrupt capitalist lapdogs to corporations and the super rich, but given that the system exists, it's hard to legally blame a party for taking a donation from what at the time seemed like a legitimate business(man). I agree that there could and should be some form of financial retribution though. If a charity received illegal donations, surely they would have to forfeit it?
- sschueller 3y agoI agree that you should not be responsible when the donation is done legally but it appears not only did SBF use stolen funds but also paid illegal donations
- maverwa 3y agoAssuming we cannot prove these parties knew the funds were stolen, wouldn’t you be punishing them for something they could not have known was illegal? We may assume that individuals in these parties knew that these donations were not entirely legal (due to the splitting) but can we prove that? Sure, in the case of parties, they’d be fine, they can pay that kind of money back, but let’s assume you donate to a charity and that charity spends that money on humanitarian aid. Your stolen 100m are now a (pretty nice, big) school in some country far away. Would it be „the right thing“ to make the charity pay that money back? Is that what the law demands? I guess that would make it even harder to run such a thing, since you always have to plan for the case where you might have to pay back donations you received… how long ago? But then again, political parties and campaigns may need different treatment. And you also somehow want to recover these funds for the people originally owned that money. Rough call to make.