White House visitor logs revealed that Sam Bankman-Fried, the crypto billionaire currently facing a DOJ probe into alleged misappropriation of customer funds, had high-level meetings at the White House in April and May of this year.
Bankman-Fried, founder of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange “FTX,” met with top Biden advisor Steve Ricchetti to lobby for federal agencies to partake in regulating the independent industry. He also pledged $1 billion to Democrats for the midterm elections weeks before the meetings took place.
Bankman-Fried ended up donating only $36 million in campaign funds to the Democrats, which makes the fact that FTX lost nearly half its value within 72 hours of Election Day suspicious at best. One minute he’s holding private meetings with the president’s top advisor and viewed as the party’s next “megadonor.” The next thing you know he’s in ruins and in the DOJ’s sights.
In 2008, Goldman mastered the art of crony capitalism: pay up for government protection & get bailed out when you need it most. That’s why Goldman got bailed out while Lehman didn’t. Crypto-dude Sam Bankman-Fried just tried to play the same game by donating $30mm+ to Democrats. pic.twitter.com/D28TjwOozo
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) November 11, 2022
Leader of the one-time FTX competitor Binance, Changpeng Zhao, swooped in on Election Day and signed a nonbinding agreement to purchase FTX.
“This is a truly crazy event in the startup world. Dot-com bust level event” tweeted tech reporter Eric Newcomer.
Bankman-Fried was worth an estimated $15.2 billion before the fall of FTX. Mere hours later his bank account was $14.6 billion lighter. This morning he filed for bankruptcy and resigned as CEO.
Behold everyone who lost every last dime investing in FTX (via @minigrogu) pic.twitter.com/Q1orStDZzP
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 11, 2022
According to a Bloomberg News report, the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission are both investigating whether Bankman-Fried used customer assets to prop up his hedge fund.
It’s been a tough year for investors in both digital and U.S. currency. The S&P 500 and NASDAQ 100 are each on pace for their worst years since 2008. Bitcoin has already lost over 60% of its value in 2022.
