Democrats undecided on returning Bankman-Fried’s donation

Neither Republican Sen. Susan Collins nor the Maine Democratic Party have parted with campaign donations made by FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who has been charged with defrauding investors in his now-collapsed cryptocurrency exchange.

Bankman-Fried, who was arrested this week in the Bahamas and will be extradited to the U.S., donated more than $40 million to political candidates and committees during the last campaign cycle. Many recipients across the country are donating those funds to charity.

Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder and chief executive officer of FTX Lam Yik/Bloomberg

Most of Bankman-Fried’s donations went to Democrats and Democrat-aligned political action committees throughout the U.S., including the Maine Democratic Party, which received $10,000 this year.

Party spokesperson Jacob Stern said the party hasn’t decided whether to keep the money or donate it to charity.

“We are continuing to monitor the FTX situation as it evolves,” Stern said. “The party has not yet decided on a course of action.”

Collins was one of the few Republicans to receive donations from Bankman-Fried, who contributed $17,400 to the senator’s campaign committee in 2021. All but $5,800 was returned because it exceeded contribution limits, a spokesperson said.

Collins said last month she would donate the rest to charity, but has not yet done so.

“$5,800 will be donated to charity before year end,” Collins spokesperson Annie Clark said in an email. “The rest was returned because of contributions over the limit.”

FTX was one of the largest crypto-currency exchanges in the world until it declared bankruptcy last month.

Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas this month and is charged with conspiracy, fraud, campaign finance violations and money laundering.

On Monday, Bankman-Fried’s attorney said his client has agreed to be extradited to the U.S., where he will be tried.

Most of Bankman-Fried’s donations went to Democrat-aligned super PACs, which can accept and spend unlimited sums of money, according to federal campaign finance reports.

The biggest beneficiary was Protect Our Future PAC, which received $27 million. Other PACs receiving $1 million or more from Bankman-Fried include the House Majority PAC ($6 million), FF PAC ($5 million), GMI PAC ($2 million) and the conservative America United ($1 million.)

Bankman-Fried also appears to have given to nearly every state Democratic party committee, including $10,000 each to committees in Massachusetts and New Hampshire, and $9,752 to Vermont.

“Our legal counsel is actively working to obtain clear and correct instructions on how to return this donation,” Massachusetts Democratic Party Chairman Gus Bickford said in an email. “As soon as that process is complete the funds will be returned.”

Spokespeople for the party committees in New Hampshire and Vermont did not respond to questions about what they have done – or plan to do – with those donations.