Grand Canyon Times

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of collapsed cryptocurrency company FTX, was hit this week with new federal charges related to making “unlawful political contributions to acquire bipartisan influence.” 

Federal prosecutors, in an indictment that was unsealed Thursday, allege that Bankman-Fried and two unidentified co-conspirators siphoned FTX client money from Alameda Research, the name of Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund, and diverted it into campaigns and super PACs that supported candidates from both parties during the 2022 midterms.

“As he used Alameda to siphon off FTX’s customer funds and deploy them for political causes, Samuel Bankman-Fried, a/k/a ‘SBF,’ the defendant, became one of the largest publicly reported political donors for the 2022 midterm elections. But his effort to influence politics did not stop there,” the indictment reads. “To avoid certain contributions being publicly reported in his name, Bankman-Fried conspired to and did have certain political contributions made in the names of two other FTX executives (‘CC-1’ and ‘CC-2’). Those contributions were made directly to candidates in the names of those FTX executives, but with FTX and Alameda funds.” 

State and federal campaign disclosure records show that a Phoenix-based consultant worked for one federal PAC that was founded by Bankman-Fried’s brother, and another federal PAC that received $27 million from Bankman-Fried himself.

“In or around 2022, Samual Bankman-Fried, a/k/a ‘SBF,' the defendant, and others agreed that he and his co-conspirators should contribute at least a million dollars to a super PAC that was supporting a candidate running for a United States Congressional seat and appeared to be affiliated with pro-LGBTQ issues, and selected CC-1 to be the contributor,” the indictment says. 

“A political consultant working for Bankman-Fried asked CC-1 to make the contribution and told CC-1, ‘In general, you being the center left face of our spending will mean you giving to a lot of woke shit for transactional purposes,’” it continues. “CC-1 expressed discomfort with making the contribution in his name, but agreed there was not anyone ‘trusted at FTX [who was] bi/gay’ in a position to make the contribution. At the direction of Bankman-Fried and individuals working for him, CC-1 nonetheless contributed to the PAC.”

Bankman-Fried is alleged to have improperly funneled contributions through other individuals – known as straw donors – to support dozens of Republicans and some left-of-center Democrats, so he’d have support from either side that won. He is charged with using the scheme because it would shield his brand from directly supporting them, according to the indictment.

The latest charges come on top of earlier ones that led to his arrest.

In December, the U.S. Department of Justice released a statement announcing the unsealing of an indictment charging Bankman-Fried “with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the Federal Election Commission and commit campaign finance violations.” 

“The charges in the indictment arise from an alleged wide-ranging scheme by the defendant to misappropriate billions of dollars of customer funds deposited with FTX, the international cryptocurrency exchange founded by the defendant, and mislead investors and lenders to FTX and to Alameda Research, the cryptocurrency hedge fund also founded by the defendant,” the statement says.

While the "political consultant" mentioned in the indictment is not named, one political consultant who works with PACs funded by or affiliated with Bankman-Fried is based in Phoenix.  

Dacey Montoya, head of The Money Wheel, LLC, is listed as treasurer of the Protect Our Future PAC that received millions from Bankman-Fried during the 2022 political cycle. She is also treasurer of the Guarding Against Pandemics PAC, founded by Bankman-Fried’s brother, Gabe. 

The Money Wheel, LLC is described on Montoya's LinkedIn page as “a boutique political compliance firm. We offer compliance, accounting, and reporting services to federal and non federal candidate committees, PACs, and 501c(3)/c(4) organizations.” According to her LinkedIn page, she also is a former Field Director for the Arizona Democratic Party. 

The Money Wheel was paid 137,114 by the Protect Our Future PAC. It received $17,000 for accounting and compliance from the Guarding Against Pandemics PAC in 2021-2022, Federal Election Commission (FEC) documents show.

Protect Our Future PAC had total federal receipts of $28,530,613.38, $27 million of which came from Bankman-Fried. His 2022 contributions were listed as: $9 million on Feb. 4, $4 million on March 15, $10 million on April 14, and $4 million on June 13, the FEC says. 

The Money Wheel was also affiliated with several notable Arizona political campaigns in the 2022 campaign cycle:

- The campaign of Gov. Katie Hobbs, who won election in 2022, paid $164,500 to The Money Wheel.

- The campaign of U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, who was re-elected in 2022, paid $427,630.15 to The Money Wheel.

- The campaign of Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, who won election in 2022, paid $10,000 to The Money Wheel.