After cryptocurrency company FTX filed for bankruptcy, critics are calling out CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's ties to left-wing political causes and the Democratic Party.
Bankman-Fried was the second-largest contributor to Democratic-affiliated political action committees (PACs) and organizations, behind only liberal financial magnate George Soros, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) data. However, the collapse of FTX this week has called into question Bankman-Fried's finances.
On "Outnumbered" Tuesday, co-host Kayleigh McEnany noted that even left-wing outlets like Daily Beast are calling out the scandal.
"So when the far-left of your party is calling you out, there is some hypocrisy here," she said, adding that Bankman-Fried had pledged $1 billion to Democrats in 2024.
McEnany said the situation reminds her of when Democrats had to give back money donated by Harvey Weinstein.
"The money trail is what we need to follow here," said CPAC Foundation senior fellow Mercedes Schlapp.
Co-host Emily Compagno said the Democrats have always been "the first" to criticize "dark money" and corporations funding political candidates.
"A lot of people have lost money and have been ripped off, basically," author and Fox News contributor Miranda Devine said on "Fox & Friends" Tuesday.
"And the Democrats, with their $40 million that they got at least this cycle to win the midterms, plus the $10 million that this guy put into Biden's campaign in 2020, they really owe it to the victims of this scam to give it back," she said, noting that Bankman-Fried visited the White House several times this year.
Bankman-Fried, also referred to as SBF, crafted a sophisticated cryptocurrency exchange whose marketing message was that the company would give away all funds received.
"His branding, his marketing was what he called effective altruism," "Fox & Friends Weekend" host Will Cain said. "It was essentially virtue signaling."
The company, however, is now under investigation after a liquidity crisis.
"What it appears he was doing - and this is a criminal allegation that still under investigation - is some of the money that was being used in FTX, which is an exchange, was being backdoored out to another company he had, an investment vehicle, and much of it today is missing," Cain said on "Fox & Friends" Tuesday.
"Now that's criminal fraud."
Devine also argued SBF was focused on funding operations that "served his own purposes," failing to look after funds.
"He was behind a whole lot of legislation that was being drafted that was supposedly going to regulate crypto, but keep the SEC out of it," Devine said. "He went to the White House several times this year and met with various people in the Biden administration. This was all about not regulating crypto properly. And the result, as we see, is this unregulated market has collapsed."
"So this was a very political operation. It was pretty obvious that it was going to go down in flames. And very conveniently, it only went bankrupt after the midterms."
In addition to the company's dealings with Democrats, FTX is also being scrutinized for potential connections to the war in Ukraine.
WHAT IS THE ALLEGED CONNECTION BETWEEN SAM BANKMAN-FRIED, FTX, DEMOCRATS AND UKRAINE?
Despite a Ukrainian crypto official denying investments into FTX, Cain argued it is worth questioning the connection of Democrats and politicians supporting the war in Ukraine.
"We're journalists asking an important question: was money from Ukraine going back to the people that were voting to fund the war in Ukraine?"
The now-bankrupt SBF is under investigation by the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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"Whatever this whiz kid was doing, it was not dealing with anything of value," Devine said, pointing out that billionaire investor Warren Buffett long warned about potential fraud in the crypto markets.
Fox News' Thomas Catenacci and Joe Schoffstall contributed to this report.
