Questions remained about alleged campaign finance violations totaling nearly $100 million stemming from stolen customer deposits after FTX founder Sam Bankman Freed was convicted last November on seven criminal charges related to the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange. But a second trial never materialized, and prosecutors Make a decision The lawsuit was dropped in December, leaving the matter unresolved.
On Thursday, prosecutors from the Department of Justice for the Southern District of New York Filed a lawsuit The lawsuit alleges that former cryptocurrency lobbyist and former congressional candidate Michelle Bond illegally raised campaign funds through FTX funds paid to her by her boyfriend, former FTX executive Ryan Salame. Salame pleaded guilty in May to campaign finance violations and operating an unlicensed money transmitter, avoiding trial, but still faces a 7.5-year prison sentence, set to begin this fall.
Although Bond was not an FTX employee, the new charges suggest that months after the Bankman Freed verdict, prosecutors have not yet put an end to the crypto empire saga and that further criminal cases may be on the way.
“The misconduct of elected officials undermines public confidence in American elections and in our representative government,” U.S. Attorney Damien Williams said in a statement. “My office is committed to holding elected officials and candidates accountable when they violate the law.”
Straw Donner
During the last presidential election cycle, Bankman Freed and his loyal underlings became the country’s largest political donors, giving tens of millions of dollars to candidates in both parties. Donated The second-largest dollar amount to Joe Biden’s campaign, his network of employees and political advocacy groups also donated to Republican and Democratic candidates for the House and Senate, Bankman Freed later said. Funnel-shaped They raise funds through loan shark networks.
After FTX’s collapse, prosecutors and the bankruptcy estate alleged that most of the donations were funded with stolen customer funds and sent through a so-called “dummy donor” scheme, in which money is funneled through a network of donors to circumvent campaign finance limits. During Bankman Freed’s trial, his former head of engineering, Nishad Singh, appeared as a witness and admitted to wrongdoing.
Yet technical issues surrounding Bankman Freed’s extradition agreement with the Bahamas meant that the campaign violations charges were set to go to trial a second time, but they never came to fruition, and Singh is still awaiting sentencing. Salameh was sentenced earlier this year, but his case has not gone before a jury, and it remains undetermined whether prosecutors will bring charges against others connected to Bankman Freed’s donation network, including his parents.
Thursday’s charges against Bond reflect that prosecutors have not yet wrapped up their case. Report from The New York TimesProsecutors in Puerto Rico have begun gathering information about the FTX dark money ring, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Page 13 IndictmentThe Justice Department alleges that Bond and Salameh, head of FTX’s Bahamas subsidiary, entered into a “sham consulting” contract worth $400,000 that Salameh illegally used to fund his failed congressional campaign. Bond was previously CEO of a cryptocurrency industry group.
The charges were announced earlier this week after Salameh’s lawyers filed court documents stating that Salameh had pleaded guilty under an agreement not to pursue charges against Bond, which Salameh argued prosecutors had violated.
Bond is charged with three criminal counts, each carrying a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Bond’s lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After the DOJ announcement, crypto observers speculated that the new charges could mean more lawsuits over FTX’s campaign finance violations: “It’s really surprising that Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, the hell parents who worked so hard on SBF’s campaign finance laws, got away with it.” Written Venture capitalist Nick Carter talks about X.
