By “‘I donated about the same amount to both parties this year.’ ”
— FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried
That line came from Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, who spoke with Tiffany Fong, a YouTube content creator focused on the crypto space, about his political giving as well as FTX’s collapse.
Bankman-Fried, known for being a Democratic megadonor during the 2022 midterm elections, said his donations to Republicans were “dark-money” contributions, using a term that refers to the secret political spending allowed by the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling.
He also said the GOP donations were dark not due to regulatory reasons, but rather because he thinks all reporters are liberal and therefore freak out over contributions to Republicans.
“I didn’t want to have that fight, so I just made all the Republican ones dark,” Bankman-Fried told Fong, who on Tuesday released recordings of her interviews with him.
It’s difficult to verify Bankman-Fried’s claim about his GOP donations, because dark-money contributions are by definition cloaked.
An October MarketWatch analysis of disclosures made to the Federal Election Commission found that Bankman-Fried gave $38 million to Democratic groups in the most recent election cycle, along with about $200,000 to GOP groups.
Now read: What legal strategy? Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX comments will cause headaches, experts say
Also see: FTX collapse to be focus of Senate hearing Thursday — here’s what to watch for
Plus: ‘Bedazzled by money’: Democratic ties to Sam Bankman-Fried under scrutiny after FTX collapse
