SBF Hit With More Charges in Effort to Influence Midterms via Straw Donor Scheme

Sam Bankman Fried now faces additional charges. This 12-count indictment replaces the 8-count indictment from back in December.

He is being indicted for securities fraud, wire fraud, and other conspiracy charges related to wire fraud on FTX customers, Alameda’s lender, illegal campaign contributions, money laundering, operating an unlicensed money transmission business, and bank fraud.

The straw donor scheme SBF used to funnel $ 70 million to candidates in order to influence the 2022 midterm elections was also detailed. According to the indictment SBF “made more than 300 political contributions totaling tens and millions of dollars that were illegal because they were made under the name or paid for using corporate funds.” He allegedly used two other FTX executives to make some of these political contributions.

According to the indictment, one associate was the “face” of giving to “center-left” candidates while another was the face to give to Republican candidates. One consultant said to one of his associates, “In general you being the face of the spending will mean that you give to a lot woke sh-t transactionally.”

They also attempted to keep Republican donations in the dark.

SBF wanted to improve its influence with Washington, D.C. lawmakers and help pass favorable legislation.

According to reports, the money used for donations was taken from accounts held by FTX customers, which are still frozen, as well as from Alameda Research, a hedge fund that he also controlled. This means that Democrats, Republicans, and other groups may be involved in the case and will have to return the money. They are also trying to raise money for the 2024 election, which could have an impact on those elections.