{"id":1757966,"date":"2022-12-01T06:30:16","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T11:30:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1757966"},"modified":"2022-12-01T09:18:25","modified_gmt":"2022-12-01T14:18:25","slug":"bankman-fried-discusses-democrat-donations-relationship-with-ukraine-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bankman-fried-discusses-democrat-donations-relationship-with-ukraine-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Bankman-Fried Discusses Democrat Donations, Relationship With Ukraine, and More"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbankman-fried-discusses-democrat-donations-relationship-with-ukraine-and-more%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1757966&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-ftx\">FTX<\/a> founder <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-sam-bankman-fried\">Sam Bankman-Fried<\/a> granted a rare <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-interview\">interview<\/a> with independent crypto journalist Tiffany Fong. In the conversation, the elusive founder addressed a number of controversies that have surrounded him over the past few weeks, including commingling client funds, relations with Ukraine, donations to the Democratic party, and more.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not a journalist by profession,\u201d Fong told The Epoch Times.<\/p>\n<p>She explained that her introduction to reporting came after losing a \u201csubstantial\u201d portion of her savings to the collapsed decentralized finance project Celsius in June, a topic she then began covering.<\/p>\n<p>According to Fong, she was able to land the interview because Bankman-Fried had followed her on Twitter after being intrigued by her reporting on Celsius, which led to \u201ca few brief but friendly exchanges\u201d between the two. The recorded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=6DezodR9hNI\">phone call<\/a>, posted to Fong\u2019s YouTube channel, touches on many of the headlines that have appeared across the spectrum of media since the story broke in early November.<\/p>\n<h2>Political Donations<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cI donated about the same amount to both parties,\u201d Bankman-Fried told Fong when asked about his political donations.<\/p>\n<p>The crypto exchange founder\u2019s political donations have been widely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/ftx-poured-millions-into-political-campaigns-before-bankruptcy_4881444.html\">publicized<\/a>\u00a0in recent weeks, with numerous outlets reporting that Bankman-Fried personally donated almost $40 million to Democratic candidates ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, outdone only by Democrat mega-donor George Soros.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll my Republican donations were dark,\u201d he said, meaning that they weren\u2019t disclosed publicly. \u201cAnd the reason was not for regulatory reasons; it\u2019s because reporters freak the [expletive] out if you donate to a Republican because they are all super liberal.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just didn\u2019t want to have that fight so I made all the Republican ones dark.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bankman-Fried went on to add that general elections don\u2019t matter to him nor to other top donors. According to him, the smart money is spent on primary candidates because those offer a more meaningful range of choices.<\/p>\n<p>According to OpenSecrets data, only $235,000 of Bankman-Fried\u2019s political contributions went to Republicans. However, his co-CEO, Ryan Salame, donated about $23 million to Republicans and conservative groups in 2022.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Relationship to Ukraine<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cI wish I could\u2019ve pulled that off,\u201d Bankman-Fried joked, referencing a popular internet theory that FTX and Ukraine were colluding to launder humanitarian donations.<\/p>\n<p>In March, FTX and Ukraine <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/relationship-among-ftx-ukraine-and-democrats-sparks-speculation_4862458.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">partnered<\/a> to set up a donation platform to facilitate crypto payments to the National Bank of Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p>This partnership catalyzed speculations, which obtained substantial reach, being <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/doyaksec\/status\/1593658488039047168\">covered<\/a> by Fox News anchor Jesse Waters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDemocrats send money to Ukraine, Ukraine sends money to FTX, and FTX sends money to the Democrats\u2019 campaigns,\u201d the anchor said in one of his nightly segments.<\/p>\n<p>According to Bankman-Fried, this is all nonsense.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wish I was part of an international conspiracy that interesting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Commingling FTX Client Funds<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Toward the end of the interview, Fong pressed Bankman-Fried on the misuse of user funds. Various news organizations, including The Wall Street Journal, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/ftx-tapped-into-customer-accounts-to-fund-risky-bets-setting-up-its-downfall-11668093732\">reported<\/a> that Bankman-Fried\u2019s crypto investment company Alameda Research had tapped into FTX customer funds to finance reckless trading ventures.<\/p>\n<p>When asked how FTX funds ended up on Alameda\u2019s balance sheet, he stuttered through a lengthy response and eventually answered that it ultimately came down to a \u201clarge margin position,\u201d meaning that Alameda was making investments with loaned capital. Pressed to explain further, the former billionaire suggested that appropriating customer funds to margin accounts is \u201csort of the norm\u201d for derivatives exchanges, implying that Alameda Research was simply fulfilling the role of a very large customer.<\/p>\n<p>Then, referring to the general decline in crypto assets this year, Bankman-Fried noted that a \u201chyper-correlated crash\u201d diminished the value of Alameda\u2019s collateral and made it impossible to come up with sufficient funds to pay back the loans.<\/p>\n<p>Appearing to contradict his claims that loaning customer funds is the norm, Bankman-Fried wrote in a now-deleted <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/mrjasonchoi\/status\/1592502981680734208\">tweet<\/a>, \u201cWe don\u2019t invest client assets (even in Treasuries).\u201d The tweet, posted in early November as the crisis was just beginning to unravel, also reassured customers that FTX had ample cash to repay all customers.<\/p>\n<p>Bankman-Fried also briefly addressed the \u201cback door,\u201d which sources <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/currencies\/exclusive-least-1-billion-client-funds-missing-failed-crypto-firm-ftx-sources-2022-11-12\/\">told<\/a> Reuters he used to funnel FTX funds to Alameda. Despite founding several billion-dollar digital asset companies, he claimed that he barely knows how to code and wouldn\u2019t be able to design such a complex tool.<\/p>\n<p>The interview concluded with the former crypto magnate expressing remorse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy future is also not the thing that matters here,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat matters is the world\u2019s future.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fong chuckled a bit and asked, \u201cIs that like your media response, or is that how you really feel?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bankman-Fried responded, \u201cNo, it\u2019s actually how I feel.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Epoch Times asked Fong whether she believed his remorse to be genuine. She admitted that she does but said it \u201cdoesn\u2019t absolve him of wrongdoing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bankman-Fried is scheduled to speak at The New York Times\u2019 DealBook <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/section\/business\/dealbook\">Summit<\/a>, which began on Nov. 30.\u00a0He\u2019s expected to participate in the interview from the Bahamas.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-liam-cosgrove\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/LiamCosgrove_WEB.jpg\" alt=\"Liam Cosgrove\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Liam Cosgrove works as a freelance journalist covering business, markets, and finance. He received his bachelor&#8217;s degree in mathematics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried granted a rare interview with independent crypto journalist Tiffany Fong. In the conversation, the elusive founder addressed a number of controversies that have surrounded him over<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1732864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1757966","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1757966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1757966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1757966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1732864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1757966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1757966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1757966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}