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S.B.F.’s McConnell Money Tickle

In his previous life as crypto boy king, S.B.F. was fetishized as a modern Soros. But he cared about power and relevance, which is why, yes, he gave some dark-money to Republicans, too.

Mitch McConnell
In the final days of the election season, FTX cut a newly-disclosed $1 million check to Senator Mitch McConnell’s main super PAC. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Theodore Schleifer
December 2, 2022

In the final months of this year’s midterms cycle, the teams behind Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX began to grow concerned about a Republican takeover of Congress that would leave him poorly positioned in Washington, I’m told. S.B.F., after all, had spent about $40 million boosting mostly Democrats, and as the C.E.O. of FTX—the largely unregulated, now bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange—he could see that was likely to be a liability in a G.O.P.-run legislature. He was saying all the right things about his desire to be bipartisan. But there was no doubt that he appeared, on paper at least, to be just another Democratic mega-donor.