Sam Bankman-Fried Accuses Biden Admin of Going After Him for Donating to Republicans

Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of failed crypto exchange FTX, claimed that his 2022 arrest was politically motivated after he shifted his political donations toward Republicans and fell out of favor with the Biden administration.

On Wednesday, he posted on microblogging site GETTR that he had moved from a center-left stance in 2020 to a more centrist position in 2022, after observing aggressive crypto enforcement under SEC Chair Gary Gensler and the Justice Department.

“By 2022—having seen Gensler/Biden’s DOJ on crypto—I was a centrist, and (privately) donated tens of millions to Republicans,” he wrote.

Bankman-Fried Claims Authorities Targeted Him Before Key Crypto Vote

He claimed that weeks later, the SEC and DOJ “went after me,” timing his arrest just before a crypto bill he supported was due for a vote and only a day before he was scheduled to testify before Congress.

At the time, House Republicans alleged the timing appeared intended “to prevent Sam Bankman-Fried from testifying,” and demanded that Gensler turn over internal communications.

In his post, Bankman-Fried revived those suspicions, saying Gensler “conveniently lost” the relevant messages.

SEC Confirms Gensler’s Phone Wipe Erased Nearly A Year Of Texts

Last month, the SEC’s Office of Inspector General admitted that Gensler’s government-issued phone underwent an “enterprise wipe” that erased texts between Oct. 2022 and Sept. 2023. The office said the phone stopped syncing to the agency system in July 2023 and was flagged “inactive” for 62 days, despite functioning normally.

That deletion period overlapped with other major SEC enforcement steps against crypto firms, alongside FTX’s collapse in Nov. 2022 and Bankman-Fried’s December arrest in the Bahamas.

Coinbase has since accused the SEC of deleting nearly a year of Gensler’s messages, calling for sanctions over what it described as “destruction of evidence.”

Lawmakers Launch Inquiry Into SEC’s Handling Of Gensler’s Missing Messages

House Republicans have also launched an investigation into the deletion of nearly a year’s worth of text messages from former SEC Chair Gary Gensler, citing concerns about transparency, IT mismanagement, and compliance with federal record-keeping laws.

Bankman-Fried remains imprisoned at FCI Terminal Island following his conviction in one of the largest financial fraud cases in history. Prosecutors said he diverted billions in customer funds to his hedge fund, Alameda Research, using them for risky trades, real estate, and political donations.

Once hailed as a crypto prodigy and a major political donor, Bankman-Fried now faces years behind bars while continuing to insist his downfall was driven as much by politics as by mismanagement.

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