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Beto Returned The $1 Million Donation Of Crypto Mogul Sam Bankman-Fried

by Onward Texas Staff November 29, 2022, 9:21 am 42.5k Views

Former Democratic candidate Beto O’Rourke returned $1 million dollars to the crypto mogul and now prosecuted entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried. His campaign told the Texas Tribune that Beto gave back the money four days before Election Day.

Sam Bankman-Fried founded FXT, a cryptocurrency exchange site that was valued at $32 billion before collapsing a few weeks ago. Bankman lost his fortune in the blink of an eye and took all the investors of the firm with him. Bankman was also one of the top donors of the Democratic effort in Texas, giving Beto a total of $1 million. A week after Abbott was reelected, he criticized the relationship between Beto and Bankman in a tweet.

This guy gave a million dollars to Beto.

This Madoff-Style evaporation of customer's money should be a crime.

Candidates who received this tainted money should return it so that innocent customers of FTX can get some of their money back. https://t.co/oArdCD14Ql
— Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) November 17, 2022

But Beto’s campaign returned that money because, unlike other large donations, O’Rourke had not talked with Bankman-Fried prior to the donation, and the large sum took the campaign by surprise. “This contribution was unsolicited and the campaign’s upcoming report will show that it was returned back on November 4, prior to the news stories that would later come out about the donor,” Chris Evans, a spokesperson for O’Rourke’s campaign told the Texas Tribune.

Sam Bankman-Fried was the top donor of Beto’s fundraising and he spent a total of $40 million dollars in supporting Democratic campaigns during the midterms.