BackSam Bankman-Fried explored paying Trump to not run for president, was indicated ‘$5 billion’ as price, book excerpt says
The former FTX chief also planned to 'give $15 million to $30 million to Republican Senator Mitch McConnell to defeat the 'Trumpier' candidates in the Senate races', as per the book released by author Michael Lewis.
PremiumSam Bankman-Fried, the founder of now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, had in 2020 explored paying a sum to former United States President Donald Trump to opt out of the race to re-enter the White House, as per a book released by author Michael Lewis.
Bankman-Fried, who is currently in jail on charges of fraud, had also "planned to give $15 million to $30 million to Republican Senator Mitch McConnell to defeat the ‘Trumpier’ candidates" in the last Senate elections, according to the excerpt of the book - Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon - published in TheWashington Post.
"On a separate front, he explained to me, as the plane descended into Washington, he was exploring the legality of paying Donald Trump himself not to run for president," Lewis wrote.
"His team had somehow created a back channel into the Trump operation and returned with the not terribly Earth-shattering news that Donald Trump might indeed have his price: $5 billion. Or so Sam was told by his team."
The excerpt did not discuss why Bankman-Fried did not press ahead with the plans.
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Bankman-Fried heads for trial
In a separate development, Bankman-Fried is set to go on trial on charges of stealing billions of dollars from customers of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange starting on October 4, nearly a year after the company's collapse shocked markets and tattered his reputation.
Federal prosecutors say the 31-year-old former billionaire embezzled from FTX customers since its founding in 2019 through its November 2022 bankruptcy in order to prop up his hedge fund Alameda Research, buy luxury properties and donate more than $100 million to U.S. political candidates.
Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. He has acknowledged inadequate risk management, but denied stealing funds. His lawyers have signaled in court papers they plan to argue that FTX's treatment of customer funds were proper, and that others at FTX and Alameda bore the bulk of the blame for their failure.
The trial is expected to last up to six weeks. It will feature testimony from three former members of Bankman-Fried's inner circle who have pleaded guilty to fraud charges themselves and agreed to cooperate with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office.
Bankman-Fried's is the highest profile case U.S. prosecutors have so far brought against a former cryptocurrency executive.
His indictment last December marked a spectacular fall from grace for Bankman-Fried, who had garnered a reputation as a legitimate operator in an industry whose image was pockmarked by scams and purported get-rich-quick schemes.
(With Reuters inputs)
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