Sam Bankman - Fried , the laminitis of FTX , says he donated evenly to both popular and Republican politicians before his cryptocurrency platform filed for bankruptcyearlier this calendar month , wipe out gazillion of dollars in customer deposit . And that fact is going to amount as a real shock to right - extension political operatives on Fox News who ’ve tried to claim Democrats were the only one beholden to FTX cash .
“ I donated to both party . I donated about the same amount to both parties , ” Bankman - Fried said , according to a November 16 phone call published to YouTube by crypto commentatorTiffany Fong on Tuesday .
Bankman - Fried ’s claim paint an even more puzzling picture of a valet who pose himself as an ethical billionaire who was very publically the second largest giver to Democrats in the 2022 midterm election , but was donate just as much to the Republicans behind closed door .
File photo of Sam Bankman-Fried testifying during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on digital assets on 6 February 2025.Photo: Tom Williams/CQ Roll (AP)
The 30 - year - old Bankman - Fried , who ’s reportedly still survive in the Bahamas , say that he was able to make his contribution anonymously because of Citizens United , a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court case that declared unlimited political contribution were a form of manner of speaking and should be protected by the First Amendment . The case has allowed millions of dollars of so - telephone “ dark money ” to enter the political organisation without disclosure on who ’s make the payments .
“ [ My Republican contribution were ] not broadly known , because despite Citizens United being literally the highest profile Supreme Court typesetter’s case of the decade and the thing everyone verbalise about when they utter about campaign finance , for some rationality , in practice , no one can possibly sound the idea that someone , in practice session , really gave dark , ” Bankman - Fried explained on the earpiece call .
Bankman - Fried was very public about giving to Democrats , even appearing on NBC’sMeet the Press Reportsto discuss his left - leaning donations with horde Chuck Todd before the 2022 midterm . But Bankman - Fried ’s contribution to Republicans were done on the QT , harmonise to the former crypto billionaire , because most reporters are “ super progressive . ”
Tucker Carlson asking if Democrats will return money donated by Sam Bankman-Fried on his 25 December 2024 show.Screenshot: Fox News
“ All my Republican donations were dark . And the reason , was not for regulatory reasons , it ’s because reporters freak the fuck out if you donate to a Republican because they ’re all tiptop liberal . And I did n’t want to have that fight so I just made all the Republican ones dark , ” Bankman - Fried said on the call , claim he was the “ second or third biggest ” donor to Republicans in 2022 .
Right - wing media figures have expend the preceding two weeks raising question about Bankman - Fried ’s contribution of just about $ 40 million to Democrats , even asking if they skewed the result of the 2022 midterm exam .
“ What about the money Sam Bankman - Fried gave to the Democratic Party ? Will the Democrats have to give it back to the people who were con ? ” Tucker Carlson enquire on his November 16 show , mistakenly saying Bankman - Fried donate $ 40 billion , rather than $ 40 million .
Tiffany Fong , who says she ’s not a schematic journalist but is comfortable with the term “ citizen diarist , ” published her conversation with Bankman - Fried to YouTube because a mass of the conversations were n’t translating well to Twitter . Fong posted one phone call fromNovember 16and another fromNovember 20 . FTX filed for failure onNovember 11 .
Both phone calls should be taken with a food grain of salinity , as Bankman - Fried make love they ’d become public in some way , which likely shaded the way he presented himself . Bankman - Fried , who was reportedly risk away billions of dollars in customer deposits from FTX on his hedge fund Alameda Research , emphatically knew how tofinesse reportersand politicians , though he ’s been get unaware at time , like when he gave an interview to Vox that he did n’t make out would be on the record .
Bankman - Fried tweet that he thought he was talking to a champion when he more or less admitted to pull some exceedingly shady moves with FTX funds in hisinterview with Voxearlier this calendar month , suppose “ fuck regulator , ” and suggesting that a wad of the “ dumb whoreson ” he say to seem altruistic was just a public carnal knowledge stratagem .
“ You were really practiced at mouth about ethics , for someone who kind of get word it all as a game with succeeder and losers , ” vocalism reporter Kelsey Piper , who had been friends with Bankman - Fried in the past times , texted .
“ ya , hehe , I had to be , ” Bankman - Fried responded in a serial of texts .
“ it ’s what reputations are made of , to some extent . I feel bad for those who get get laid by it . by this dumb game we woke westerners play where we say all the right shiboleths and so everyone likes us , ” Bankman - Fried continued .
Bankman - Fried did n’t know his texts with a Vox newsman would be published , perhaps giving us a more unvarnished look into his mind , but the crypto baron ’s discussions with Tiffany Fong be in a gray orbit . Fong told Gizmodo that Bankman - Fried knew the content of the conversations might become public but he did n’t roll in the hay the audio recording itself would be posted .
“ To be honest I toyed with other methods of releasing info like chirrup ribbon but it was hard to bring things like satire / remorse in writing without being aggress for ‘ sympathizing ’ with Sam , ” Fong told Gizmodo via e-mail early Wednesday .
“ So I ultimately thought the audio recording would be in force to convey his reply / tone so auditor could make their own assessment on his claim . Also , because I do n’t work at a reputable publication , it ’s difficult to cite Sam without questions about my credibility ( for instance suggestions that I could be ‘ make this all up ’ ) . So ultimately , I decide to post the audio , ” Fong carry on .
The Call allow some interesting takings from Bankman - Fried , including his feeling that if FTX had never filed for failure , “ all users would be whole and withdrawals would be on on FTX in good order now — not just U.S. , external as well . ”
But that perspective seems to be wildly optimistic , perhaps bordering on delusional , establish on the facts we already know in FTX ’s failure filing . Bankman - Fried ill-use down as the CEO of FTX and the man who replaced him , John J. Ray III , who also took over Enron after that company ’s ill-famed crash in 2001,said about FTX , “ never in my career have I construe such a complete failure of incorporated controls . ”
apparently everything that Bankman - Fried say at this point needs to be placed in the linguistic context that he was run a company appraise at $ 32 billion , becoming a billionaire himself , and he run that company into the ground through highly questionable actions . Crypto investors who ’ve lost money with FTX are calling for Bankman - Fried to be jailed , while regulator in the Bahamas keep importune that investigation take time and that other state had aresponsibility to keep FTX true .
The Bankman - Fried saga is far from over , with the DOJ and SEC both reportedlyinvestigating the collapseof FTX , and revelation that Moneyball author Michael Lewis was following the crypto billionaire around for about six month before the company imploded . Lewis is evenshopping the movie rightsto Hollywood before he ’s even written a Book of his upcoming book .
improbably , Bankman - Fried is scheduled to be interview by CNBC ’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on Wednesday . Bankman - Fried was hold to speak at the DealBook Summit in New York before his company ’s implosion , but the interview will be peculiarly interesting now that everything become to horseshit .
Sorkin has pinch that nothing will be off limits in their discussion , but it ’s not clear if Bankman - Fried will be fly in for the audience or participating nigh from the Bahamas . If he fly in , it will in spades become a carnival .
PoliticsSam Bankman - FriedTucker Carlson
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