Business

Parents Of Sam Bankman-Fried Accused Of Using Son’s Company To Enrich Themselves, Dem Political Org

(Photo by ED JONES/AFP via Getty Images)

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Jason Cohen Contributor
Font Size:

Collapsed crypto exchange FTX is suing founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s parents for allegedly enriching themselves and using their influence to fund a Democrat-aligned political action committee, according to a court filing on Monday.

The lawsuit alleges that Bankman-Fried’s parents Alan Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried participated in misappropriating millions of dollars from FTX. They allegedly took advantage of “their access and influence within the FTX enterprise to enrich themselves,” with Barbara Fried accused of illegally funding her PAC, Mind the Gap (MTG).

Fried co-founded and previously ran MTG as president and chairwoman, according to the filing. Due to worries about the “optics” of Bankman-Fried donating to MTG, she allegedly advised FTX Director of Engineering Nishad Singh to make the contributions instead. (RELATED: Alleged Fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried To Be Sent Back To Parents’ House On $250 Million Bond)

“As a result of her concern about public scrutiny, Fried on multiple occasions suggested, and even encouraged, Bankman-Fried and Singh to falsify disclosure records and misrepresent the source of a particular contribution,” according to the filing.

Fried allegedly sent an email to Bankman-Fried and Singh about a $1 million contribution to MTG, according to the filing.

“I’m assuming that Nishad would be the better person to have his name on it. We’d have a slight preference for that on our end, now that my connection to Sam is publicly known, because we don’t want to create the impression that funding MTG is a family affair, as opposed to a collective effort by many people (including some mystery guy Nishad Singh :)) If that works on your end, I’ll have [an MTG employee] send you instructions,” Fried wrote, according to the filing.

Bankman-Fried and Singh both responded that they were on board with what Fried suggested, according to the filing. The two FTX executives allegedly donated tens of millions of dollars to the PAC and causes it supported.

“At Fried’s explicit request, Bankman-Fried and Singh contributed tens of millions of dollars to MTG or MTG-supported causes,” the lawsuit alleged. “At times, Fried committed Bankman-Fried and Singh to backstop MTG-supported programs to ensure that MTG would meet its funding goals, and repeatedly called upon these guarantees.”

Fried stated that Bankman-Fried should avoid using his name in contribution disclosure forms for his sake and MTG’s, according to the filing.

“(Of course the obvious and truthful answer to why you are giving the money– to defeat state legislators who are committed to subverting the will of the voters— won’t get you very far with the press and won’t get you anywhere with Republicans),” Fried added, according to the filing. “You could get Nishad or Caroline to contribute to the PAC some of the total amount you are willing to give, but that has its own costs and risks.”

Bankman-Fried agreed it would not be best to use his name in contribution disclosures, according to the filing.

It is illegal to allow someone to donate money using another person’s name and it is also illegal to knowingly take money from a person using someone else’s name, according to the filing.

Bankman, Fried, Bankman-Fried’s attorney and FTX did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. Mind the Gap could not be reached for comment.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel