Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has been revealed to have had very close ties to Washington. He visited the White House on at least four separate occasions before the collapse of his crypto exchange in November.
SBF Visited Washington Four Times Before FTX’s Collapse
Details from a December 29th Bloomberg report have shown that Bankman-Fried visited the White House at least four times in 2022 – with all the visits coming before the United States mid-term elections.
Bankman-Fried, a top donor to Democrat politicians – chipping in $5.2 million to President Joe Biden’s campaign – met with the President’s Counselor Steve Ricchetti on April 22nd and May 12th and with policy adviser Charlotte Butash on May 13th.
In addition, the former billionaire also reportedly met with the president’s counselor Steve Ricchetti as recently as September 8th, a meeting that did not show up on the visitor logs. He was known to support aspirants with crypto-friendly outlooks.
The Crypto Community Calls for Answers
While sources claim that politics had not been discussed at the meeting, with the talks focused on the crypto industry, exchanges, and pandemic prevention, the revelation has raised suspicion in the community. Senate candidate Paul A. Szypula tweeted:
.tweet-container,.twitter-tweet.twitter-tweet-rendered,blockquote.twitter-tweet{min-height:261px}.tweet-container{position:relative}blockquote.twitter-tweet{display:flex;max-width:550px;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px}blockquote.twitter-tweet p{font:20px -apple-system,BlinkMacSystemFont,"Segoe UI",Roboto,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif}.tweet-container div:first-child{ position:absolute!Important }.tweet-container div:last-child{ position:relative!Important }
FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly had four meetings at the White House leading up to the 2022 mid term elections.Biden needs to explain what his administration was doing meeting so often with crypto fraudster SBF.— Paul A. Szypula (@Bubblebathgirl) December 29, 2022
Since his fall from grace, Bankman-Fried has become a villain, with Democrat groups returning his donations directly or via charity groups.
On the Flipside
- The highly disputed $450 million Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD) shares claimed by BlockFi and FTX might go to a neutral broker or an escrow account until the court determines the rightful owner.
Why You Should Care
The report shows the privilege and access Bankman-Fried enjoyed in Washington as a top donor of the governing party.
Read more on Bankman-Fried’s political donations in:
Elon Musk: “Bankman-Fried Donated Over $1 Billion”- SBF Blasted for $8 Billion Accounting Error
The possible reason for the donations is captured below:
What Significance Do the U.S. Midterm Elections Hold for Cryptocurrency?