FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried hit with campaign finance complaint

An ethics watchdog group has asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried for alleged “serious violations” of election law, citing his admitted contributions of “dark” money to Republican-aligned groups during the 2022 primary season.

The complaint by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington quotes an interview last month by Bankman-Fried, which the group alleges suggests he donated up to $37 million or more to GOP-linked campaign efforts in a manner that avoided legally required public disclosure of those contributions.

The complaint comes nearly a month after the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which earlier this year was valued at $32 billion by private investors, filed for bankruptcy protection, and the 30-year-old Bankman-Fried stepped down as CEO.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice reportedly are investigating him and the shocking collapse of FTX and related crypto entities.

CREW’s complaint said Bankman-Fried in his own words admits he intentionally structured his donations to GOP-linked groups to evade public reporting requirements by “taking advantage” of a Supreme Court decision in the case Citizens United v. FEC, which allowed unions and corporations to make independent expenditures to campaign themselves.

“The case did not, however, permit organizations to act as pass-throughs for others’ contributions, or to make independent expenditures while keeping secret their own contributors,” CREW’s complaint adds.

A spokesman for Bankman-Fried had no immediate comment on CREW’s complaint. The FEC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Anyone can file a complaint with the FEC if they suspect a violation of federal election campaign laws. If the FEC determines a violation occurred, potential outcomes “can range from a letter reiterating compliance obligations to a conciliation agreement, which may include a monetary civil penalty,” according to the commission’s web page.

CREW’s complaint notes that Bankman-Fried was, “until recently, a crypto-currency billionaire and
known top Democratic contributor,” who “admitted during a recent public interview that he gave ‘dark’
money contributions to support Republicans in federal elections in the past cycle.”

In that interview, he suggested that those donations would make him one of the largest donors to Republicans in the United States.

The complaint contains a link to the Nov. 16 interview Bankman-Fried gave to Tiffany Fong, who posted the discussion on her YouTube channel.

“I donated to both parties. I donated about the same amount to both parties this year,” he said in that interview.

“That was not generally known, because despite [the Supreme Court decision known…