The U.S. Southern District Court of New York unsealed an indictment related to the case against the founder of crypto exchange FTX, Sam Bankman Fried (SBF). The document revealed four new charges presented against the former crypto executive.
These charges include illegal political donations, bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and more. The new charges add to the eight allegations previously presented by the state and the potential for a life in prison sentence if SBF is found guilty.
FTX Founder And Team Playing Both Sides
Per a report from the New York Post, the indictment revealed a complicated scheme from SBF and other FTX executives to make illegal donations to politicians in the U.S. Over 300 candidates and elected government officials received donations from Bankman-Fried and other FTX executives.
The report claims that SBF donated to Republican and Democratic candidates and politicians to gain influence for “his own gain.” These donations have created controversy, and some politicians have been forced to return the funds. The document stated:
(…) In total, between in or about the fall of 2021 and the November 2022 election, [Bankman-Fried] and the two FTX executives who served as straw donors as part of his scheme … collectively made millions of dollars in contributions, including in ‘hard money’ contributions to federal candidates from both major political parties
The Republican party received donations from other individuals in the name of FTX as SBF tried to protect his “left-leaning” reputation. The report stated:
(…) you (SBF) being the center left face of our spending will mean you giving to a lot of woke s–t for transactional purposes.
The “Woke Game”
The recently disclosed indictment proves that SBF and his team understood and tried to gain pollical influence in Washington. Last year, when the collapse of FTX was in the making, while customers saw their funds evaporate, SBF spoke with VOX.
In that contentious interview, SBF blamed regulators for “not protecting consumers” and making “everything worse.” The FTX founder was deemed a representative of the crypto industry and a movement called “effective altruism.”
He aimed to amass a large fortune and donate the money to charity to have a “real impact” on the world. According to the VOX interview, the altruistic part of this plan was part of a stunt campaign, a public relations strategy.
Speaking about his effective altruism approach, SBF said:
Man all the dumb shit I said, it’s not true, not really (…). Everyone goes around pretending that perception reflects reality (…). I had to be (good at ethics), it’s what reputations are made of, to some extent. I feel bad for those who get fucked by it, by this dumb game we woke westerners play where we say all the right shiboleths and so everyone like us.