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Founder of crypto disaster FTX and second largest Democratic donor in 2022 Sam Bankman Fried had at least four meetings at the White House this year with the president Joe Bidentwo of which took place in the 2 months leading up to the dramatic collapse of his crypto company and the subsequent arrest of SBF on charges that included campaign finance violations.
This revelation comes from report by Bloomberg and the many “SBF Chronicles” in the puck.
Bankman-Fried, who made her role and intent heard and visible throughout the decline and fallout, used “dirty money” to “buy” influence, primarily from Democrats but also from some Republicans, say US prosecutors. During his post-collapse rotation, SBF suggested he donated equal amounts to Republicans, but in secret to avoid backlash from the liberal press. The words ‘Republican’ and ‘dark money’ got a lot of media attention, with some unsubstantiated claiming he gave ‘the same amount’ to both sides, but verifiable money that was tracked was widely in favor of Democrats and Democratic-aligned groups.
And in his blitz of Democratic schmoozing and influence buying, SBF not only allowed Biden to spend a lot of time with the former Harris transition team member and current SEC chairman. Gary Genslerbut also at least four face-to-face meetings at the White House.
These included at least two meetings with Steve Richettiadviser to the president, one with Biden’s deputy chief of staff Bruce Rose, and an apparent two-day meeting after that, the attendees weren’t reported. sbf’s brother, Gabriel Bankman Friedwhich is one of the names used for the FTX/SBF political donation programs, also had a meeting at the White House this year.
From Bloomberg:
Bankman-Fried met Sept. 8 with Steve Ricchetti, a top adviser to President Joe Biden, White House officials familiar with the matter said. The previously unseen meeting was the latest of a handful of sessions.
Puck adds these details from a conversation that a television producer and former Wall Street banker named Laura Goldman had with Bankman-Fried in September 2021:
In the end, SBF was only too happy to meet politicians and gamble them with millions. He told Goldman he gave about $25 million at that time. “There are instances where I wish I had given more in retrospect,” he said.
Goldman took SBF at face value when it came to its interest in pursuing regulation of the crypto industry. Believing he really wanted the industry regulated, after the interview Goldman introduced SBF to the White House public engagement team. “He is planning a visit to Washington and would like to meet some people from WH,” she wrote. Zach Butterworth, the White House director of private sector engagement, told Goldman that the SBF team should liaise with Jana Plat at the White House office of public engagement.
Political donations, made apparently at the expense of FTX clients and investors, are a major part of the ongoing case against Bankman-Fried, who is controversially on bail right now.
The attorney now in charge at FTX, John Jay Ray III, which previously claimed millions for Enron investors, pledged to to recover massive donations to help make individual investors whole. Some of the big names on the hook for those funds include the next House Minority Leader representative. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), senator. Cory Booker (D-NJ), senator. Joe Manchin (D-WV), and Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL).
Bankman-Fried faces charges includeConspiracy to commit wire fraud on customers, wire fraud on customers, conspiracy to commit wire fraud on lenders, wire fraud on lenders, conspiracy to commit goods, conspiracy to commit securities, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and most relevant to the topic, conspiracy to defray the United States and violate campaign finance laws.
A source who spoke to Bloomberg about the White House meetings amusingly claimed that neither politics in general nor FTX’s particular political interests were discussed at those meetings.
Uh-huh.
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