Politicians should return FTX contributions | David Moon

Officials in charge of trying to recover billions of dollars stolen by Sam Bankman-Fried are looking to recover $73 million for victims from some interesting beneficiaries of the massive fraud: almost 40% of the members of Congress who received political contributions from him and related entities, including one East Tennessee member of Congress.

According to an analysis by the website CoinDesk, 196 U.S. lawmakers took direct contributions from either Bankman-Fried, one of his companies or other executives of those companies. I don’t know the legal definition of “receiving stolen property,” but once two of his associates pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering in December, these contributions miserably failed the smell test.

Recipients of these stolen funds include prominent members of both parties, such as Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA.)

I don’t fault any of the 196 legislators for receiving the contributions, but when two executives pleaded guilty in December, admitting the money was fraudulently conveyed, those elected officials knew the money was stolen. John Ray, the new CEO of FTX, is tasked with recovering as much money as possible for the estimated 1 million creditors of what he has termed an “old-fashioned embezzlement scheme.” On Feb. 6, he officially requested the return of those contributions, setting a deadline of this past Tuesday.

There has been no information released about congressional compliance with Ray’s deadline, but some of the recipients have announced their intent to donate the funds to various charities.

Representative Greg Cesar (D-TX) says he plans to forward his FTX contribution to something called Fight America’s Monopolies. Rep. Ronnie Jackson (R-TX) is sending his to a crisis pregnancy center. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said she would donate her $16,600 to a Bronx charity that provides free financial counseling services. (Hopefully these services include some basic information on how to spot an obvious investment fraud.)

Here is an idea: rather than pretending to take some high-minded approach in redistributing the ill-gotten funds to their own pet causes, why not return the stolen money to the actual victims?

Ray’s Feb. 6 letter noted that “making a payment or donation to a third party (including a charity) in any amount of any payment received from a FTX contributor does not prevent the FTX debtors from seeking recovery.” It seems he wants the money returned, even if they claim to no longer have the money.

In 2022, the only member of the Tennessee congressional delegation to receive contributions from an FTX-related party was Republican Rep. Chuck Fleischmann of Chattanooga. Congressman Fleischmann told me that his campaign had not yet returned the contribution of former FTX Digital Markets Co-CEO Ryan Salame, but his campaign lawyers were looking at the best way to do so.

David Moon, president of Moon Capital Management, may be reached at david@mooncap.com.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: David Moon: Politicians should return FTX contributions