Sam Bankman-Fried, the former cryptocurrency mogul, held multiple meetings with senior White House officials during the months leading up to the collapse of FTX, which operated as one of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange companies at its zenith.
According to the White House logs published in a Bloomberg report, Sam Bankman-Fried met with one of the senior advisers of US President Joe Biden on September 8. The FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, 2022.
Prior to that, Bankman-Fried held meetings with White House officials in April and May, White House logs cited by Bloomberg showed. Sam Bankman-Fried’s brother Gabriel Bankman-Fried, too, met a White House official in March.
The White House meetings reportedly focused on “general discussion of the crypto industry and exchanges,” as well as pandemic prevention related to the foundation, Guarding Against Pandemics, run by Gabe Bankman-Fried, another brother of Sam Bankman-Fried, the report said, citing a White House official.
According to the Washington-based Centre for Responsive Politics, Bankman-Fried contributed more than $70 million to election campaigns in less than 18 months and was among the top political donors in the United States. He reportedly gave at least $40 million to politicians and political action committees ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, mostly to Democrats and liberal-leaning groups, making him the second overall top donor to Democrats.
According to a Manhattan court filing, FTX owes its 50 largest creditors almost $3.1 billion in credit. Bankman-Fried is accused of engaging in a scheme to defraud FTX customers by using billions of dollars in stolen deposits to pay for expenses and debts and to make investments for his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research LLC.
Bankman-Fried has acknowledged “risk management failings” at FTX but has said he does not believe he has criminal liability.
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