Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX allies secretly poured $50 million into ‘dark money’ groups, evidence shows

Former crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried and his allies donated $50 million during the 2022 election cycle toward politically active groups that do not publicly disclose the names of donors, according to documents recently made public by prosecutors.

Bankman-Fried, his cryptocurrency exchange FTX and at least two of his former colleagues gave to nonprofits aligned with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and other senior Republican senators; a group linked to Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.; and a wide range of obscure groups that have quietly influenced politics.

The documents give the first full look at Bankman-Fried and his allies’ contributions to so-called “dark money” organizations. Nishad Singh, FTX’s former head of engineering, provided further testimony earlier this week that shed light on how Bankman-Fried used a private signal chat called “Donation Processing” to request certain contributions be made in Singh’s name.

Bankman-Fried’s mother, Barbara Fried, also encouraged donations that were actually from her son to be made in Singh’s name, according to evidence tied to a lawsuit brought by FTX.

Bankman-Fried is on trial for several federal fraud charges, as well as for allegedly using FTX customer funds to help finance over $100 million in political giving during the 2022 midterms. He faces a potential life sentence in prison. He has pleaded not guilty.

Bankman-Fried said in an interview last year that he gave what he called “dark” contributions because he didn’t want the public to know that he was giving money to Republican-leaning organizations. While Bankman-Fried quietly funded more conservative dark money groups behind the scenes, he publicly cultivated a profile that was clearly aligned with the…