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Inside the S.B.F. Blast Radius

The fate of Sam Bankman-Fried is being closely tracked at the highest levels of the Democratic Party, and by the dozens of allied political groups that are either racing to distance themselves from his surname or to find their next check.

Sam Bankman-Fried
Nearly all of Sam Bankman-Fried’s projects went from having seemingly infinite money to effectively zero, overnight. Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Theodore Schleifer
November 15, 2022

The Thursday before Sam Bankman-Fried’s company imploded, at a Capitol Hill townhouse just purchased by one of his main political outfits, about 60 Democratic operatives and lobbyists turned up for a cocktail party with a full bar and catering—“Democratic Night,” in the unofficial words of people invited—to celebrate S.B.F.’s ascendant lobbying organization. The previous evening, the townhouse had hosted a similar soirée for G.O.P. power brokers on “Republican Night.”