How US Congress tried to stop the SEC from investigating FTX

(from Unplash under fair use)

Many questions have been posed so far regarding why FTX was getting preferential treatment by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Why would the ever vigilant and over reaching SEC not probe against the FTX exchange although there were multiple red flags?

For one thing SBF was a democratic party megadonor. The second after George Soros. Despite that, he donated money to political campaigns from both side of the aisle. The FTX cabal was so determined to influence policy that 62 percent of Congress members received donations from FTX employees.

Back in March 2022, 8 Congress members tried to stop a SEC inquiry of FTX. The group that is now known as the "Blockchain 8" co-signed the letter that aimed to derail the SEC investigation against crypto platforms which included FTX. Out of those 8 signatories, 5 had received donations from the company. Out of the 8 Congress members, 4 were Democrats and the other 4 were Republicans. These were Tom Emmer (R-MN), Ted Budd (R-NC), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Warren Davidson (R-OH), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Darren Soto (D-FL).

Five out of the eight Congress members had received donations ranging from $2,900 to $11,600 from FTX. These are only the overt donations because if you dig deeper, more donations come to light. For example, Ted Budd (R-NC) got more than $500,00 from a Super PAC established by Ryan Salame. Tom Emmer who was appointed as Congress Majority whip of the Republican party benefited $2.75 millions from the House GOP Super CAP of Ryan Salame / FTX.

Who is Ryan Salame? He was the Co-CEO of FTX digital markets and a megadonor during the 2022 midterm elections donating more than $23 million to GOP candidates while Sam Bankman Fried (SBF) donated nearly $40 million mostly to Democrats. The donations were targeted for candidates that touted policy issues such as pandemic preparedness and crypto. In their attempt to influence policy and gain favours among lawmakers in DC, FTX execs were playing both sides. In a disturbing manner it indicates why lawmakers are reluctant to aggressively go after the perpetrators and why all those involved in the FTX/Alameda fiasco remain at large.