Sam Bankman-Fried says he donated simply as many hundreds of thousands to Republicans as Democrats, however didn’t publicize it as a result of reporters would ‘freak the f–k out’

“All my Republican donations have been darkish,” SBF instructed crypto influencer and YouTuber Tiffany Fong, referring to political donations that aren’t publicly disclosed. “The rationale was not for regulatory causes, it’s as a result of reporters freak the fuck out should you donate to Republicans. They’re all tremendous liberal, and I didn’t need to have that struggle.”

SBF was the second-largest Democratic donor over the last election cycle, and he instructed Fong he donated about the identical quantity to Republicans. Politicians together with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia (D-In poor health.), and Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.) have since given the cash again or pledged to after FTX imploded and rocked the crypto trade.

The $40 million Bankman-Fried donated final cycle to Democrats trailed solely financier George Soros, who gave away about $128 million. If SBF certainly donated the identical quantity to each events, as he mentioned Tuesday, that might make him the fifth-largest particular person Republican donor as properly, in accordance with knowledge compiled by OpenSecrets.

SBF’s feedback to Fong got here simply hours after Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, requested the six largest crypto exchanges, together with Binance and Coinbase, to offer steadiness sheets and different info on how they deal with buyer funds. Bankman-Fried reportedly dipped into clients’ cash to fund private spending, together with bets at his buying and selling firm, Alameda Analysis.

“As Congress considers much-needed rules for the crypto trade, I’ll deal with the clear want for client protections alongside the traces of the assurances which have lengthy existed for patrons of banks, credit score unions and securities brokers,” Wyden wrote in a letter additionally despatched to Kraken, KuCoin, Bitfinex, and Gemini.

Stress was mounting in Washington for legislators to really do one thing about crypto rules even earlier than FTX’s collapse and chapter, which surfaced just a few weeks in the past following a report by CoinDesk on Nov. 2. FTX is underneath investigation by the Securities and Alternate Fee and the Justice Division, in accordance with the Wall Road Journal, however the SEC and Commodities Future Buying and selling Fee have been criticized for doing subsequent to nothing to forestall FTX’s home of playing cards from collapsing.

Within the Home, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), chair of the Home Monetary Companies Committee, not too long ago instructed CNBC that the committee would play a task in scrutinizing FTX, including the legislative physique would “do every little thing that we are able to to reveal any violations that have been clearly made.” 

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