It’s who you know: The intricate web linking FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, Dems and DC establishment

Calls to hold FTX and its now-disgraced founder accountable continue to mount, but it remains to be seen whether Bankman-Fried’s political donations and connections can help him avoid maximum punishment.

The collapse of cryptocurrency giant FTX has revealed an intricate web of donations and connections to the country’s political establishment — Democrats and Republicans, regulators and academics — centered around the company’s now-bankrupt founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.

This extensive network, held together through political donations and personal relationships, exposes potential conflicts of interest in the coming investigations into Bankman-Fried and has raised questions about whether the former crypto mogul will be held accountable for alleged wrongdoing.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), for example, has been pictured meeting with Bankman-Fried on multiple past occasions, both smiling with their arms around each other. She also traveled in April to the Bahamas, where FTX is based and Bankman-Fried lives, to discuss cryptocurrency among other agenda items. In December, she appeared to blow a kiss at Bankman-Fried as he was leaving the Capitol building after testifying before Congress.

Last week, Waters announced the House Financial Services Committee, which she chairs, will hold a bipartisan hearing next month to investigate the collapse of FTX and the broader consequences for the digital assets marketplace.

Nine members of the committee — seven Democrats and two Republicans — received a collective total of over $300,000 in political contributions from Bankman-Fried and others at FTX, the Washington Free Beacon reported.

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