White House won’t comment if Biden will return campaign donations from Sam Bankman-Fried

The White House on Tuesday wouldn’t say if President Biden will ask his aides to return $5.2 million in donations made to his presidential election campaign from disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried in 2020.  

In a dramatic series of events, the 30-year-old was arrested in the Bahamas on Monday evening at the request of prosecutors from the US Attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York. He is now also facing charges from the Securities Exchange Commission.

According to an unsealed indictment by the Department of Justice, Bankman-Fried is accused of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, laundering money, and conspiring to “defraud the United States” in the form of violating campaign finance laws. 

Sam Bankman-Fried, pictured in the Bahamas last month, has been arrested on fraud charges. He lavished campaign contributions on politicians before his downfall

Sam Bankman-Fried is shown in court in the Bahamas on Tuesday in this photo from CoinDesk being denied bail 

The White House was asked about giving back campaign contributions following Bankman-Fried’s indictment. U.S. attorney Damian Williams warned that more charges would be pending against others. ‘We are not done,’ he said 

DOJ also claims he donated far in excess of the $25,000 contribution limit under U.S. law by giving money under other people’s names, known as straw donors. 

At least $73 million in political donations to both Democrats and Republicans by FTX-linked individuals including Bankman-Fried are a risk of being clawed back during the bankruptcy process, Bloomberg reported.

An analysis shows Bankman-Fried and two members of his inner circle contributed $6 million to a super political action committee for House Democrats, $3.5 million to the GOP’s Senate Leadership Fund and $3 million to a fund that backs Senate Democrats. 

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she could not respond to a question on whether or not Biden would ask the campaign to reject the funding received by Bankman-Fried because of the Hatch Act, which prevents civil service employees from engaging in political activities.

‘[I’m] limited on what I can say and anything that’s connected to political contributions from here, I would have to refer you to the DNC,’ she responded.   

But on Tuesday, she faced pushback. 

‘I’m asking the president’s opinion, though,’ an AP reporter pressed followed up.   

‘You asked me two questions: You asked me about will he return donations and then you asked me about his opinion. I’m answering the first part, which is I’m covered by the Hatch Act from here. I’m limited on what I can say. And I just can’t talk to political contributions, or anything related to that,’ She continued. ‘I cannot speak to that from here.’

Most of Bankman-Fried’s publicly disclosed contributions went to Democrats – including a $50,000 check he cut to the Biden Victory Fund and a $2,800 contribution to Biden’s 2020 campaign according to Federal Election Commission data. 

He was able to direct a total of $37 million in contributions, according to a complaint filed by Citizens for Responsible Ethics in Washington. It cites his own boasts about ‘dark money’ contributions that don’t get reported. 

‘He admits he transferred funds “to Republicans” to influence “primaries” because that’s where “where the good candidates” are elevated “against bad candidates.” He further admits that he intentionally structured his donations to evade public reporting by taking advantage of the United States Supreme Court decision, Citizens United,‘ according to the complaint, which came before the indictment.