Washington: After years of benefiting from the massive contributions of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, America's political elite are now eager to put distance between themselves and the disgraced crypto darling who has been accused of perpetrating massive financial fraud.

The 30-year-old tycoon, who is currently being held in the Bahamas while US extradition proceedings are underway, has recently emerged as one of the Democratic Party's biggest public donors. He also claimed to have made a similar amount of private donations to the Republican side.

The list of recipients includes US President Joe Biden, whose 2020 campaign received more than $5 million in funding from Bankman-Fried.

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White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre deflected the question when asked about the situation on Tuesday. She referred to the law that forbids her from discussing politics while serving in her official capacity and said, "I am limited in what I can say."

The former CEO of a defunct cryptocurrency exchange platform was charged on Wednesday with money laundering, breaking campaign finance rules and wire fraud in the US. They are accused of making risky investments with customers' money and using their services to fraudulently do politics.

In a statement, New York prosecutor Damian Williams referred to a practice that is permitted in the US: "Samuel Bankman-Fried and his co-conspirators sent political advertisements to federal political candidates and committees funded by (his other company) Alameda Research." has contributed." Earned lakhs in 2022. before the 2022 elections.

However, the statement continued, "He made those contributions with the intent to avoid contribution limits and reporting requirements."

Prosecutors claim that Bankman-Fried arranged for these donations to appear to have come from wealthy associates rather than from her personally.

Williams said at a press conference that "all this dirty money was used to buy the banker-Will Fried's bipartisan influence and influence the direction of public policy in Washington."

On the US Federal Election Commission website, a Bankman-Fried search revealed 213 donations made since 2020, including a $5 million donation to a group supporting Joe Biden in September and to "Biden" in October of that year. A donation of $50,000 was included. Vijay Nidhi.

These publicly announced donations were largely given to Democratic organizations or candidates. However, Bankman-Fried insisted in a November interview with cryptocurrency expert Tiffany Fong that she had "donated equal amounts to both parties" despite making numerous media appearances and statements over the course of several months as FTX surged. had started.

All my contributions to Republicans were hidden, he claimed, but "not for regulatory reasons." He claimed that when Republicans receive donations, reporters "go nuts."

They are all very generous, so I didn't want to quarrel with them.

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The cost of those donations is now owed to some of those political benefactors: Despite being legal, bankman-Dan Fried money now feels poisoned.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, told the New York Post that she donated the money she received from Bankman-Fried to a charity that supports underserved communities.

According to the newspaper, four Democrats and one Republican lawmaker made comparable decisions. But House Democrat Brad Sherman, who opposes cryptocurrencies, recently told NBC that returning donations to FTX's investors and customers through the bankruptcy trustee fund is "the right answer" because "it was never the bankman's money." " ,

In terms of the nearly $39.2 million in declared contributions made during the November midterm elections, Bankman-Fried came in sixth, according to calculations by OpenSecrets, a nonprofit organization that aims to reduce campaign finance.

When only donations to Democrats are considered, he is the second largest donor behind billionaire George Soros, who gave more than $128 million to the party during the midterm elections.

US campaign finance regulations differ depending on whether money is given directly to candidates or raised through political action committees. This complex scene involves the exchange of billions of dollars each election cycle.

These 'PACs' and 'super PACs', which are political organizations that can accept unlimited donations but cannot directly fund candidate activities, play a sometimes covert role in US elections.

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Investors, wealthy patrons, economic special interest groups, and organizations representing various social causes donate to PACs and super PACs in order to influence elections to local offices, Congress, and the White House.

What is most likely on the SBF's mind in terms of politics right now? Regulation for the risky cryptocurrency market, a still-evolving topic.