The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for December 15, 2022
Today’s Links
Articles & Resources:
Journalist Tiffany Fong – Interview with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (Campaign donation discussions at 13 minutes)
CNBC – Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried hit with campaign finance complaint over GOP ‘dark’ money
Forbes – Sam Bankman-Fried says he donated just as many millions to Republicans as Democrats, but didn’t publicize it because reporters would ‘freak the f–k out’
The Hill – FTX founder Bankman-Fried’s campaign finance charges ‘just the tip of the iceberg
OpenSecrets.org – Largest Campaign Donors
Groups Taking Action:
Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington (CREW), Public Citizen, Open Democracy
Today’s Script: (Variations occur with audio due to editing for time)
You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.
Recent revelations from a disgraced cryptocurrency CEO gives us a glimpse of just how much campaign money flows into our election system – both what gets reported, and what’s called “dark money.” And both the major parties refuse to stop the torrent.
In an interview with journalist Tiffany Fong in November, FTX crypto exchange CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, now in custody in the Bahamas, admitted that he had not only given $40 million to Democrats and Democratic PACs to fund primary races, but he said he also gave an equal amount of “dark money” to Republican candidates. It’s not known which dark money organizations, but typically 501c3 & 501c4 nonprofits, Limited Liability Corporations and other instruments are used to shield donor identities.
Citizens for Responsibility & Ethics in Washington, has since filed a campaign finance reform complaint with the Federal Elections Commission. CREW suggested that Bankman-Fried contributed as much as $37 Million more to campaigns than was reported to the FEC, and says that while the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision allows independent expenditures to groups, it doesn’t not allow those groups to “pass through” donations directly to candidates.
Several politicians, including Arizona U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, have reportedly returned money given to them by Bankman-Fried.
We have links to the campaign funding transparency website OpenSecrets, and more details on the allegations at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org. For the American Democracy Minute, I’m Brian Beihl.