An in depth checklist of donations made by FTX associates grew to become public in the course of the felony trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried on Oct. 17.
Bankman-Fried’s personal donation checklist particulars greater than $133 million in spending, primarily made up of $119 million in political donations.
The checklist contains quite a lot of recognizable politicians or their campaigns. Republican senator and former presidential nominee Mitt Romney notably obtained $5,800 from Bankman-Fried, whereas Democratic senator Cory Booker obtained $5,700. Dozens of different politicians obtained comparable quantities from the FTX founder.
Bankman-Fried’s largest donations, nonetheless, went to political teams and political motion committees, or PACs, that are topic to fewer restrictions and limits on donations than political candidates. These teams, which included such names as Defend Our Future, One Nation, Home Majority PAC, Majority Ahead, Future Now, Constructing a Stronger Future, and others, collectively obtained tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars}.
Presents to household and buddies
Recorded donations additionally embrace transfers between relations. One of many checklist’s largest single transfers is a $10 million reward from Sam Bankman-Fried to his father, Joseph Bankman — a indisputable fact that surfaced in different stories round September.
One other entry reveals that Sam Bankman-Fried despatched $2 million to his brother, Gabriel Bankman-Fried. Moreover, Bankman-Fried donated $17.5 million to Guarding In opposition to Pandemics (GAP), a gaggle co-founded and previously headed by Gabe Bankman-Fried.
Bankman-Fried moreover despatched presents to numerous people who, like Bankman-Fried himself, look like concerned within the San Francisco-focused efficient altruism group. Recipients embrace earth programs scientist Claire Zabel, Democratic politicians Elizabeth Edwards-Appell and Alex Zajic, pc science scholar Rocket Drew, and Chatham Home analysis fellow David Lawrence.
The previous FTX CEO additionally despatched over $248,000 to a lodge firm in Miami, Florida; a be aware signifies that the corporate hosted a mentorship retreat.
Different executives additionally dealt with donations
Different connected lists convey complete donations amongst FTX executives to $230 million. One connected checklist signifies that FTX’s former engineering head, Nishad Singh, carried out $72 million in political and different donations. One other checklist reveals that ex-Alameda Analysis CEO Caroline Ellison spent $19 million on presents and different donations.
Notably, Singh and Ellison every contributed $40 million and $10 million to the AI agency Anthropic. Singh advised in his latest testimony that FTX and Alameda donated $499 million to Anthropic general, alongside billions of {dollars} spent on different celeb endorsements, enterprise capital funds, and mining investments.
Yet one more checklist titled “FTX US” describes $1.7 million in political donations, a sum that features a $150,000 donation to the Tremendous PAC of pro-crypto U.S. consultant Patrick McHenry. One other checklist contains $4.9 million in different political donations.
The checklist of donations emerged as a bit of proof as Nishad Singh testified about extreme spending throughout Bankman-Fried’s ongoing felony case. Singh has pleaded responsible to marketing campaign financing prices as a part of a plea deal. Prosecutors intend to cost Bankman-Fried with marketing campaign financing violations at a later date.