US lawmaker Senator Josh Hawley on Nov. 18 wrote the head of three financial regulators asking them to provide all correspondence between them and the Democrat party, following FTX’s collapse.
The letter was addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Gary Gensler, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Rostin Behnam.
SBF Was a Top Democrat Donor
Sam Bankman-Fried was a top donor to the Democrat party. Reports revealed that he donated over $40 million to the party during the 2021/2022 election cycle, making him the second-largest donor to the party.
Hawley demanded that these federal agencies conduct a “full conflict-of-interest review” on FTX and its founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
According to him, the review would ascertain if they were not insulated from proper oversight because of their relationship with the Democrat party.
Hawley said “Bankman-Fried funded his lavish donations to the Democratic Party through rampant fraud. The net result was that billions of dollars were stolen from investors and handed over to Democrats and left-wing organizations.”
Hawley Questions if FTX’s Executives Had Ongoing Investigations
The lawmaker asked the federal agencies if they had initiated any fraud investigations into FTX, Alameda, or Sam Bankman-Fried.
Hawley also asked if the firm had any “confidential settlements or deferred prosecution agreements.”
Speculations have grown about Sam Bankman-Fried and his firms’ relationship with the Democrat party. Some speculated that his “special relationship” had protected him and his firm from rigorous scrutiny from the authorities.
Hawley added, “the fact that this scheme was revealed immediately after the midterm elections raises serious questions about whether federal regulators and law enforcement faced conflicts of interest in identifying, investigating, and thwarting the fraudulent scheme.”
Meanwhile, Sam Bankman-Fried and his bankrupt exchange FTX have come under intense multi-jurisdiction regulatory scrutiny recently. Authorities in the Bahamas, the US, and the United Kingdom are probing the collapse of the crypto giant.