A cryptocurrency billionaire facing federal investigation for mishandling customer funds had high-level White House meetings just months ago, as Congress was debating how to regulate his company—and just weeks before he pledged to donate up to $1 billion to Democrats ahead of the midterm campaign.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the owner of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, met on April 22 and May 12 with top Biden adviser Steve Ricchetti, according to White House visitor logs reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon. At the time, FTX was lobbying Congress and federal agencies to shape regulation of the crypto industry.
The meetings are likely to raise questions about the extent to which Bankman-Fried used the promise of political donations to nudge Democrats toward helping his firm. FTX is teetering on the brink of insolvency after announcing it could not fulfill its customers’ withdrawal request due to lack of funds. Bankman-Fried lost nearly all of his $16 billion fortune in the liquidity crunch. And his troubles might get worse. The Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission are investigating whether FTX mishandled customer deposits in order to prop up the 30-year-old entrepreneur’s hedge fund, Alameda Research, according to Bloomberg News.
