White House Evades Discussions About Returning SBF’s Donation

When asked about plans to return the political contributions that Sam Bankman-Fried, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of now-bankrupt FTX made to President Joe Biden’s campaign, a White House spokesperson evaded the question. Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary totally avoided the question when she was asked by Associated Press reporter Zeke Miller.

“Will the president return that donation?” Miller asked “does he call on all politicians who got campaign donations that may have come from customer money to return those funds?”

In response, Jean-Pierre said “I’m covered here by the Hatch Act,” adding she was “limited on what I can say.” Speaking of the Democratic National Committee which govern Biden’s party, she said ”Anything that’s connected to political contributions, from here I would have to refer you to the DNC.”

As per a published statement by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, the Hatch Act is a “federal law passed in 1939, limits certain political activities of federal employees, as well as some state, D.C., and local government employees who work in connection with federally funded programs.”

SBF Donations to PACs

It is no longer news that Sam Bankman-Fried, popularly identified as SBF, was an ardent contributor to several political ambitions. He was said to have donated to both Democratic and Republican candidates through political action committees (PACs). He was ranked the third top contributor and the top donor from the crypto industry.

Notably, most of these contributions were made in other people’s names. Many opined that he made these donations to influence laws and policies guiding the crypto industry leading to the misappropriation of users’ deposits. According to XRP attorney John Deaton, it is now necessary to recall most of these donations.

At a press conference, Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York said “All this dirty money was used in service of Bankman-Fried’s desire to buy bipartisan influence and impact the direction of public policy.”

According to a filing by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Sam Bankman-Fried used Alameda Research as his piggy bank citing that SBF redirected customers’ funds held in FTX to his sister trading firm.