New evidence that prosecutors want to use against Sam Bankman-Fried details how one high-ranking FTX executive knew that his boss' political donations were designed to gain favorable influence in Washington D.C.
The FTX founder donated nearly $40 million to Democrats and political action committees during last year's midterm elections. Although prosecutors have put that number as high as $100 million because they say Bankman-Fried funneled millions more through FTX executives.
Prosecutors say the donations were funded by money taken from FTX customers.
The donation scheme was previously brought to light when Bankman-Fried was charged with conspiracy to defraud the US and campaign finance violations. Those charges have now been dropped due to disagreements over his extradition from The Bahamas, but prosecutors want to use the evidence for charges related to fraud and money laundering.
Bankman-Fried is ranked as the Democrats' number-three donor behind George Soros and Mike Bloomberg, per OpenSecrets. He also previously said he was the Republicans' third-biggest donor but this isn't generally known because all his donations "were dark," he said, meaning he used loopholes to avoid disclosing his identity.
In a Monday court filing reviewed by Insider, the government detailed several pieces of evidence it hopes to present for the FTX founder's trial, scheduled for October 2.
Bankman-Fried faces seven charges including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He has pleaded not guilty, and was kept on house arrest under $250 million bail until he was remanded to a prison notorious for its poor conditions last Friday.
Prosecutors' evidence includes messages from Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX's Bahamian affiliate company, who prosecutors say is "a co-conspirator in the defendant's illegal campaign finance scheme." Salame hasn't been charged with any crime.
Salame donated $23 million to Republican candidates and conservative PACs, according to OpenSecrets. He is "unavailable" to testify under oath because his attorney said he would invoke the Fifth Amendment if subpoenaed, prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors say he told a trusted family member that Bankman-Fried wanted to donate to both sides of the aisle but was wary of the effects of appearing too partisan.
And Salame's messages to a family member say the donations were intended "to weed out anti-crypto dems for pro-crypto dems, and anti-crypto repubs for pro-crypto repubs," per the filing.
In other words, to find politicians who would be favorable towards FTX when it came to crypto regulation.
Salame's message added it was likely Bankman-Fried would "route money through me to weed out that republican side," according to the filing.
Bankman-Fried's spokesperson did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
