Democrats intend to return at least $9.85 million in FTX donations
American political organizations will refund millions of dollars of Sam Bankman-Fried’s donations as they deal with FTX fraud’ allegations.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s donations to political parties are to be refunded
CNBC reports that Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, and Nishad Singh, the former head of engineering at FTX, donated $3 million to the pro-Democratic Senate Majority PAC. SBF also reportedly donated $6 million to the House Majority PAC. The latter now says they will revert funds made from FTX.
Days ago, it was revealed that Bankman-Fried had given the Democratic National Committee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee $815,000 in contributions since 2020.
Bankman Fried donated millions of dollars to various groups affiliated with the Democratic Party by Bankman-Fried and the FTX group. According to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit organization based in Washington D.C, the FTX donated $27 million to Protect “Our Future.” In comparison, the House Majority PAC received $6 million, Future Forward USA received $5 million, America United received $1.3 million, and the Senate Majority PAC received $1 million.
FTX also made a $2 million gift to the crypto political group GMI PAC, and $1 million went to the Texan political candidate Beto O’Rourke. Singh reportedly gave the Senate Majority PAC an additional $2 million.
Non-profit news agency ProPublica did not skip out on returning the gifts made either
ProPublica, an independent, non-profit journalism organization, will repay a donation from the Bankman-Fried family foundation.
Building a Stronger Future, a foundation headed by Sam Bankman-Fried, and his brother Gabe Bankman-Fried, will refund the group the initial $1.6 million it received as part of a three-year, $5 million donation. An update to a press statement from February 28 that reported the gift was published by ProPublica on Tuesday, December 20.
As per the update, the connection between ProPublica and the foundation also ended “after allegations of fraudulent actions against Sam Bankman-Fried.”
The original press announcement from the foundation on February 28 stated that the donation was intended to support research into the COVID-19 pandemic, biosecurity, and public health preparedness.
ProPublica updated its website with the following statement: “ProPublica remains fully dedicated to current investigation work on biothreats and pandemic preparedness and aims to use other resources to ensure the work continues.”
FTX aims to recover millions in political contributions made by Sam Bankman-Fried, according to a report published the same day as this declaration.
The payments, which the Financial Times claimed were paid using money from the crypto exchange’s users, will aid FTX in paying off its debts, as said on Tuesday.
Looking to clean up the mess
FTX’s new management also mentioned they had been “approached by several receivers of contributions or other payments” who wanted to remit the cash they had received from Bankman-Fried, his businesses, or top officials.
The dramatic collapse of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried, as PYMNTS revealed on November 14, has repercussions far beyond cryptocurrency trading and likely impact the charity.
The “altruism fund” the company had established was one of the victims of FTX’s collapse. For instance, the FTX Foundation and its Future Fund, a non-profit organization created to award grants to various initiatives, have essentially been shut down.
The fund’s personnel left their positions, stating in an open letter that they “had serious concerns regarding the legality and authenticity of the business operations supporting the FTX Foundation and the Vision Fund. They were now unable to conduct our work or process grants.”
