For Democrats obsessed with phony Russian election interference, they should turn their attention much closer to home. In particular, to their own dark money donor, Sam Bankman-Fried, who was found guilty in federal court Thursday.
The former FTX CEO was convicted of defrauding investors of billions of dollars, and a massive cut of that haul went to Democrats.
His conviction followed last November’s collapse of his cryptocurrency empire. It was discovered that FTX and trading firm Alameda Research overlapped their balance sheets, putting investors’ holdings into serious jeopardy.
The ensuing rush on funds led to FTX’s bankruptcy. Bankman-Fried, after months of strident denial, ultimately confessed to “funneling billions of dollars in customer funds to his own hedge fund.”
The New York Times now reports that the former billionaire faces a possible second trial over “campaign finance violations.”
His initial round of indictments included such a charge, but that was dropped in the extradition dispute with the Bahamas. The outlet said his next trial could commence early in 2024.
How Sam Bankman-Fried And His Crypto Empire Used Dark Money To Influence U.S. Elections https://t.co/YF8XJsQgBA
— Nancy Skies🍊 (@nancyskies) November 5, 2023
This should send chills through his Democratic allies. Federal prosecutors already alleged that he spent over a staggering $100 million to prop up leftist campaigns prior to the 2022 midterm elections.
The original indictment of Bankman-Fried mapped out his election interference. “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.”
Prosecution for funneling this money to compliant lawmakers faltered, and he was convicted on separate charges of conspiracy and fraud.
His day of reckoning for violating campaign finance laws may come quickly.
After dropping this charge to gain Bankman-Fried’s extradition, prosecutors recently told U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan that a new indictment would spell out his misdeeds.
The government, they declared, would “make clear that Mr. Bankman-Fried remains charged with conducting an illegal campaign finance scheme as part of the fraud and money laundering schemes originally charged.”
It was also determined by Judge Kaplan that he tampered with witnesses leading up to his New York trial. Bankman-Fried initially denied all wrongdoing and is contemplating an appeal on his convictions.
