PrairiePundit

 DC Enquirer: The Democrat candidates and political action committees that received funding from the doomed cryptocurrency exchange FTX will be required to return the money swindled from investors according to an attorney placed in charge of the firm’s finances. According to The Daily Wire , Sam Bankman-Fried the Democrat mega-donor and former billionaire CEO of FTX is now facing charges that could send him to prison for the rest of his life. He was the second-largest donor in the 2022 election just behind George Soros, having spent approximately $40 million on various campaign contributions. FTX collapsed over the course of a weekend, reducing Bankman-Fried’s personal net worth to near zero when he completed a massive transfer of $10 billion in assets to another firm owned by him: Alameda Research as reported by Reuters . The new CEO of FTX John Jay Ray III, who had gained experience clawing back millions of dollars in funding for those defrauded in the Enron scandal of the ear...

 National Review: Kevin O’Leary, an investor and judge on Shark Tank who was paid $15 million to act as a spokesman for FTX, testified before the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday about the crypto exchange’s collapse. O’Leary has said as an investor he lost all of the money he was paid to act as a spokesman for the exchange, which fell apart in November, costing investors millions in losses. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was recently arrested on charges that he misled investors and mishandled billions in funds. He has been accused of misusing customer funds deposited with FTX to boost his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research. O’Leary was among a group of celebrities, including Tom Brady and Larry David, who were sued by FTX investors for their promotion of the firm. He said he put roughly $9.7 million into crypto from the $15 million deal. The rest went to taxes and agent fees, he said. Senator Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) asked O’Leary on Wednesday why he believes FTX failed. ... O’Lea...

 Andrew Orlowski: Imagine this. A shady offshore finance business has pledged $1 billion to get a Republican president elected in 2024. The founder donates to a vast network of conservative activists and publicly promotes causes that they hold dear. He has long-standing Republican Party family connections. He is lionised in Congress . Officials promise regulatory changes that will help his business. The co-founder of the operation is a curiosity, a Chinese-American with no public profile . Then the business goes bankrupt, losing ordinary Americans billions of dollars of their savings. Much of the money simply goes missing and is unaccounted for. Now imagine how the American media might have reported this affair over the past week or so. You can be sure the word ‘corruption’ would have featured prominently, along with the words ‘deep’ and ‘systemic’. We could be reading excoriating think-pieces on how greed persuaded people to look the other way. No doubt, some Substacks would have ...

 Washington Free Beacon: Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX Cronies Gave $300k to House Committee Members Investigating Him House Financial Services Committee chair Maxine Waters has dodged questions about crypto titan's donations Waters' chief accomplishment while in office is getting rich and buying a big house.  I think the chances of her digging in to what happened with FTX are remote.

 Reuters: FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried cashed out $300 million during funding spree - WSJ FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried sold a stake in the company worth $300 million when the crypto exchange raised capital last year, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing the firm's financial records and people familiar with the transaction. At the time, Bankman-Fried told investors it was a partial reimbursement of money he'd spent to buy out rival Binance’s stake in FTX a few months earlier, the report added. Bankman-Fried and FTX did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment on the matter. ... There is much still to be learned about this collapse of a business.  It may be learned in litigation arising from the collapse of the business. See, also: "This Is Unprecedented": Enron Liquidator Overseeing FTX Bankruptcy Speechless: "I Have Never Seen Anything Like This" And: The Dem's FTX Scandal Is Only Just The Beginning  And:  Bombshell court f...