• Join Puck

    Directly Supporting Authors

    A new economic model in which writers are also partners in the business.

    Personalized Subscriptions

    Customize your settings to receive the newsletters you want from the authors you follow.

    Stay in the Know

    Connect directly with Puck talent through email and exclusive events.

  • What is puck? Newsletters Authors Podcasts Events Gift Puck Careers

Inside S.B.F.’s “Woke Shit” Influence Scheme

FTX executives Nishad Singh, who on Tuesday pleaded guilty to campaign-finance charges, and Ryan Salame were simultaneously players and pawns in S.B.F.’s political influence machine in Washington.

aHigh-ranking FTX executives Ryan Salame and Nishad Singh appear central to an alleged straw-donor scheme quarterbacked by S.B.F.
High-ranking FTX executives Ryan Salame and Nishad Singh appear central to an alleged straw-donor scheme quarterbacked by S.B.F. Photo: Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Theodore Schleifer
March 1, 2023

In the weeks before Vermont’s primary election last August, operatives working for the Democratic congressional candidate Molly Gray began to grow concerned about seven figures worth of political spending mysteriously accumulating behind her rival, Becca Balint. A super PAC that appeared to have no money had suddenly injected more than $1 million—a massive sum in the tiny Vermont media market—to ensure that Gray, the state’s lieutenant governor, didn’t make it to Congress.