Benzinga - Last week, Congressman Tom Emmer (R-MN), said that beleaguered cryptocurrency exchange FTX was a failure of centralized finance and called out the working relationship between SEC Chairman Gary Gensler and Sam Bankman-Fried.
Bankman-Fried’s inclination towards the political parties was well-reflected after he siphoned close to $262,200 to Republicans throughout the 2021-2022 election, the Federal Election commission record showed.
According to a Bloomberg report, FTX has donated $1 million to the Senate Leadership Fund, a Super PAC associated with Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), just weeks before declaring bankruptcy.
The listed contributor on the FEC donation report was West Realm Shires Services Inc, which uses FTX US as its commercial name. OpenSecrets, which tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying, reported that the super PAC spent $239 million in the midterms on behalf of Republican candidates.
Also Read: EXCLUSIVE: Sam Bankman-Fried Responds To Benzinga Over SEC 'Special Treatment' Conspiracy Allegations
FTX US has donated $750,000 to the Congressional Leadership Fund and $150,000 to the American Patriots PAC. Both of which have supported House Republican candidates.
Oh look FTX donated $1M to Mitch McConnell just days before its collapse. Zoink. https://t.co/PRE6P5cHWL pic.twitter.com/uc8xQSuIMuJohn BoozmanJohn Hoeven— Matt Stoller (@matthewstoller) November 26, 2022
Meanwhile, several congressional members have said they would return donations from FTX executives.
Members who pledged to do so are Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), and Rep. Kevin Hern (R-OK).
Last week, Bankman-Fried said he would appear at a New York Times Dealbook summit on Nov. 30 and be interviewed by columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin.
Photo: Courtesy of Bybit on flickr.
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