Sam Bankman- Fried, the founder of FTX, says he donated to both Democrats and Republicans before his platform filed for bankruptcy. Right-wing political operatives on Fox News will be shocked by the fact that Democrats are not beholden to FTX money. Both parties received donations from me. According to a November 16 phone call, Bankman- Fried said that he donated the same amount to both parties. Bankman-Fried paints a strange picture of a man who was very publicly the second largest donor to Democrats in the 2020 election, but was donating just as much to the Republicans behind closed doors.
The Bankman- Fried said that he was able to make his donations anonymous because of the Citizens United case. Millions of dollars of so-called "dark money" have been allowed to enter the political system without disclosures of who is making the payments.
Even though Citizens United was the highest profile Supreme Court case of the decade, my Republican donations were not generally known.
Bankman-Fried appeared on NBC's Meet the Press Reports to discuss his donations to Democrats before the 2020 elections. Bankman-Fried said that most reporters are "super liberal."
My Republican donations were not light. Reporters freak out if you donate to a Republican because they're all liberal. Bankman- Fried claimed on the call that he was the second or third biggest donor to Republicans in 2022.
Over the past two weeks, right-wing media figures have been questioning Bankman-Fried's donation to Democrats, asking if they skewed the result of the upcoming elections.
Sam Bankman- Fried gave money to the Democrats. Will the Democrats return it to the people who were cheated? On his November 16 show, Tucker Carlson asked if Bankman-Fried had donated any money.
Tiffany Fong, who says she is not a formal journalist but is comfortable with the term "citizen journalist", published her conversations with Bankman-Fried to YouTube because a lot of the conversations weren't good enough to be seen on social media. There were two calls from November 16 and November 20. FTX filed for Chapter 11 protection.
Bankman-Fried knew that the calls would become public, so he presented himself in a different way. Bankman-Fried, who was gambling away billions of dollars in customer deposits from FTX on his hedge fund Alameda Research, definitely knew how to manipulate reporters and politicians, though he has been caught unaware at times.
Bankman-Fried said that he thought he was talking to a friend when he admitted to pulling shady moves with FTX funds.
The reporter who had been friends with Bankman-Fried said that he was good at talking about ethics.
Bankman- Fried responded in a series of text messages.
It is what reputation is made of. Bankman- Fried said that he felt bad for those who got fucked by it.
Bankman- Fried didn't know his texts with a reporter would be published, perhaps giving us a more unvarnished look into his mind. Bankman- Fried knew the conversations would become public, but he didn't know the audio would be posted.
It was difficult to convey sarcasm and remorse in writing without being attacked for "sympathizing" with Sam, according to Fong.
I wanted the audio to convey his responses so people could make their own judgement on his claims. It is hard to quote Sam without questions about my credibility. The audio was decided to be posted.
Bankman- Fried believes that if FTX had never filed for bankruptcy, all users would be whole and withdrawals would be on FTX.
Based on the facts we already know, that perspective seems to be wildly optimistic. John J. Ray III, the new CEO of FTX, said that he had never seen a complete failure of corporate in his career.
Bankman-Fried ran a $32 billion company into the ground through questionable actions while he was running a $32 billion company. Regulators in the Bahamas insist that investigations take time and that other countries have a responsibility to keep FTX honest, despite calls from investors for Bankman-Fried to be jailed.
The Bankman-Fried saga is far from over, with the DOJ and SEC both reportedly investigating the collapse of FTX, and revelations that Moneyball author Michael Lewis was following thecryptocurrencies billionaire around for about six months before the company collapsed. Lewis is trying to get the movie rights to Hollywood before he writes his book.
Bankman- Fried is going to be interviewed by Andrew Ross Sorkin. Bankman-Fried was scheduled to speak at the DealBook Summit in New York before his company collapsed.
It's not clear if Bankman-Fried will be flying in for the interview or participating virtually from the Bahamas. It will turn into a circus if he flies in.
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