SBF Indicted for Massive Campaign Finance Violations End-shutdown

Many things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s morning memo.

We learned in December that Sam Bankman-Fried was charged with more than just a cryptocurrency-related scam. A single count of the original indictment alleged significant campaign finance violations. but a substitute accusation published yesterday offered considerable new details about that aspect of the case, including the use of fake donors and corporate funds.

The new information makes this one of the most important campaign finance cases in decades. Consider the numbers from the superseding indictment: “more than 300 political contributions, totaling in the tens of millions of dollars.”

The gist of the new allegations is that while SBF was known before its crypto exchange FTX crashed as a major Democratic donor (the sixth largestWith almost $36 million contributed in the 2022 cycle), he was also allegedly giving to Republicans and “left causes” in significant amounts using corporate funds but through front man donors to keep it hidden from the public.

SBF, 30, had already admitted as much after the FTX collapse as Mother Jones grades:

“All my Republican donations were obscure,” Bankman-Fried said in to interview after the collapse of FTX. “The reason wasn’t for regulatory reasons, it’s because reporters go crazy if you donate to the Republicans. They’re all super liberal, and I didn’t want to have that fight.”

Prosecutors alleged that SBF designated an FTX executive as a donor to liberal causes and candidates, and another FTX executive as a conservative counterpart. he NYT finger pointing, but delicately:

Besides Mr. Bankman-Fried, the two biggest political campaign contributors who worked at FTX were Nishad Singh and Ryan Salame. Neither has been charged with any crime, according to campaign financial records. Mr. Singh, like Mr. Bankman-Fried, greatly contributed Democratic candidates and Mr. Salami mainly to Republican candidates.

The new indictment, while adding some new details, still leaves a lot out:

• Who were the recipients of SBF’s allegedly illegal political contributions?
• How much in total did SBF secretly contribute?
• Who exactly were the straw donors?

An indication of the extent of illegal donations comes out obliquely in the new hint:

However, Alameda’s internal spreadsheets “noted more than $100 million in political contributions, even though FEC records do not reflect Alameda’s political contributions for the 2022 midterm elections to candidates or PACs.”

For your further reading pleasure:

mother jones: Sam Bankman-Fried was charged with hundreds of illegal campaign donations. Who else knew?

law and crime: Sam Bankman-Fried’s secret donation campaign strategy was ‘wake up s***’ for liberals and ‘dark’ money for GOP, prosecution says

NYT: New details shed light on FTX campaign contributions

The Latest on the Jack Smith Investigations

Some new developments for those who closely follow Special Counsel Jack Smith:

• smith has filed a motion to compel Former Vice President Mike Pence will testify before a DC grand jury investigating the subversion of the 2020 election. In particular, it appears to be a response to former President Trump’s legal team. increased executive privilege to block Pence’s testimony, not the tactic announced by Pence himself to avoid evidence using the Speech or Debate Clause of the Constitution.
• The Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit heard oral argument on whether the Speech or Debate Clause prevents the Department of Justice from accessing the contents of Representative Scott Perry’s (R-PA) phone. he it didn’t go particularly well for the Department of Justice.
• The Chief District Judge in DC rejected a media request to reveal some of the secret legal proceedings involving the January 6 grand jury and Trump’s claims of executive privilege.
• New details on a subset of classified materials finally found at Mar-a-Lago, via The Guardians.

Trump’s victory in 2024 will unleash a wave of retaliation

TO taste of what is to come:

A conservative nonprofit group allied with former President Donald Trump urged “employees of Hill and his colleagues” to discontinue meetings with any former Jan. 6 committee employees who have since joined lobbying firms.

In a letter sent to hundreds of recipients on The Hill, the dark money group American Accountability Foundation listed the names of former committee staffers and their titles, along with their new employers and ties to their companies’ clients, to who urged blacklisting.

Strzok and Page may eventually depose Trump and Wray

The illicit relationship between the two high-ranking FBI figures played a prominent role in Trump’s attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Peter Strzok and Lisa Page have filed separate lawsuits against the government stemming from that whole fiasco, and they’re one step closer now to be able to depose former President Trump and FBI Director Chris Wray.

Steven Bannon South by his own lawyer

A law firm that represented Steve Bannon in two of his federal trials claims he still owes her almost half a million dollars rendered for services.

intolerable

Joyce Vance on former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich deplorable conduct in pushing the Big Lie and burying his office’s own investigation by discrediting it.

Carlos Watson arrested and charged with fraud

A year and a half after Ben Smith’s media column bomb (“bomb media column” is something no one has ever written, right?), Ozy Media and CEO Carlos Watson have been accused of fraud in a federal indictment in Brooklyn.

josh marshall on pence 2024