Biden campaign surrenders tainted crypto cash
A joint fundraising committee for President Joe Biden returned a $50,000 donation from Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced CEO of now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, according to a Raw Story review of new federal records.
The Biden Victory Fund surrendered the Bankman-Fried donation to the U.S. Marshals Service in January, Federal Election Commission records indicate.
Bankman-Fried, who made his donation to Biden in 2022, was sentenced to 25 years in prison last month for stealing $8 billion from customers, which he used in part to finance contributions to politicians and political interests across the ideological spectrum.
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried arrived at a bail hearing at Manhattan Federal Court on Aug. 11, 2023. (Photo by\u00a0Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
The Biden Victory Fund is composed of Biden’s reelection campaign and more than 50 other Democratic political committees. It raised more than $280.9 million between January 1, 2023, and March 31 2024, according to the FEC.
Biden’s own campaign ended March with $85.5 million in cash on hand, while former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee, had $45 million in cash, according to The New York Times.
Biden’s campaign committee did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.
Raw Story first reported in April 2023 that the U.S. Marshals Service began collecting money donated to prominent politicians and political committees by Bankman-Fried and other former FTX executives — an all-but-unprecedented occurrence for the federal agency best known for hunting down fugitives.
By September, the Marshals had collected upwards of $1.35 million from more than 150 political campaigns and committees, Raw Story reported.
Now, the Marshals have collected more than $2.35 million in FTX donations, according to Raw Story’s review of a new batch of Federal Election Commission records, which include financial information from early 2024.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.
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Another recent FTX-related disgorgement came from the campaign of Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA). Her principal congressional campaign committee, Spanberger for Congress, sent a $2,900 donation from former FTX executive Nishad Singh.
Singh, FTX’s director of engineering, pleaded guilty in February to charges of wire fraud, securities fraud, money laundering and campaign finance violations, the New York Times reported.
Spanberger announced in November that she would not seek reelection and would instead run for Virginia governor in 2025.
Spanberger’s congressional office did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.
Last month the Democratic National Committee and an associated joint fundraising committee surrendered $765,000 from FTX, Raw Story reported.
Republican committees forfeited five and six-figure donations, too, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee ($109,500) and the Republican National Committee ($25,000).
Campaigns for prominent politicians ranging from House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) also sent the Marshals money from FTX-related executives.
Bankman-Fried donated more than $40 million to political causes during the 2022 election cycle, according to a CBS News analysis.