The recent bankruptcy filing of cryptocurrency trading giant FTX has revealed the full scope of the influence-peddling campaign run by disgraced CEO and Democrat super donor Sam Bankman-Fried.
The Intercept reports that the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings of cryptocurrency giant FTX have revealed further details about how the company spent money on consultants, think tanks, and other business relationships at the direction of disgraced CEO and Democrat super donor Sam Bankman-Fried. A document containing a list of the company’s former suppliers and investors, known as the creditor matrix, sheds light on how FTX used its wealth to acquire prestige and powerful allies.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (second on left) is led away in handcuffs by officers of the Royal Bahamas Police Force in Nassau, Bahamas, on December 13, 2022. (MARIO DUNCANSON/AFP via Getty Images)
After FTX’s meteoric rise as a crypto exchange, it didn’t take long for the company to start spending lavish sums of money on PR specialists, political consultants, think tanks, trade associations, and other influence peddlers. Nearly a dozen public relations professionals who specialize in obtaining favorable media coverage for clients are on the list of organizations in the creditor matrix, along with political consultants and others who specialize in pushing agendas.
One illustration is FTX’s donation to the Center for a New American Security, a well known D.C.-based think tank with a focus on national security. The think tank has worked to shape regulations for cryptocurrencies and has a task force on cryptocurrencies that FTX previously belonged to. The task force communicated with government representatives concerned with national security and provided policy recommendations that reflected the view of the cryptocurrency sector that digital tokens on the blockchain pose a low risk for financing terrorism.
Many of the entities listed in the bankruptcy filing and FTX’s connections were already known, but the creditor matrix reveals the crypto giant also retained several previously unreported professional influence-peddling firms. One such organization is Cojo Strategies, the business owned by former New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, whose name appears on the FTX vendor list. Another is Susan McCue, a former Harry Reid aide who has counseled numerous Senate Democrats and participated in the management of a number of Democratic super PACs and dark money organizations. The filing also includes her business, Message Global.
The creditor matrix also includes other influential consulting firms, such as Patomak Global Partners, a company that specializes in lobbying financial regulators. The company is run by former Securities and Exchange Commissioner Paul Atkins, and it boasts that it has former government officials on staff, giving it “a telescope to anticipate trends on the horizon to help position our clients for long-term success.”
The investigation into FTX’s business practices has become more intense as a result of the company being accused of stealing billions of dollars from investors and its founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, being accused of fraud. The filing provided a peek inside FTX’s complex web of power and demonstrates the lengths the company went to preserve its position of influence.
Read more at the Intercept here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan
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