Bankman-Fried political donations: who could FTX ask for its money back?
16:22, 20 December 2022
FTX, the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange, is trying to use legal avenues to recover payments and contributions handed out by former executives which may include the millions of dollars given to American political parties.
The company, which filed for bankruptcy on 11 November 2022, said: “The FTX debtors invite all recipients of such payments [donations] to contact the FTX debtors to make arrangements for the return of such payments. To the extent such payments are not returned voluntarily, the FTX debtors intend to commence actions before the bankruptcy court to require the return of such payments, with interest accruing from the date any action is commenced.”
Under Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and former CEO of FTX, the company donated millions to both the Democratic and Republican parties in the United States.
BTC to USD
Democrats looking to return the funds
The Democratic party is looking to return some of the funds received by FTX, as three top Democratic campaign groups are preparing to return more than $1.1m, according to Reuters.
Bankman-Fried was arrested on 12 December by the Royal Bahamas Police Force after a “formal notification by the United States that it has filed criminal charges against him and is likely to request his extradition”.
He has also been formally charged by the US Securities and Exchange Commission. SEC chair Gary Gensler said the “alleged fraud” committed by Bankman-Fried was a “clarion call to crypto platforms that they need to come into compliance with our laws”.
The Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis said: “The Bahamas and the United States have a shared interest in holding accountable all individuals associated with FTX who may have betrayed the public trust and broken the law.
“While the United States is pursuing criminal charges against SBF individually, the Bahamas will continue its own regulatory and criminal investigations into the collapse of FTX, with the continued cooperation of its law enforcement and regulatory partners in the United States and elsewhere.”
Bankman-Fried was the second largest Democratic Party contributor in the 2022 mid-term elections.
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