Ex-FTX exec Salame won’t testify in alleged illegal campaign donation case

August 15, 2023 Coin Telegraph

Ryan Salame plans to plead the Fifth if he is asked to testify at Sam Bankman-Fried's criminal trial, according to United States prosecutors.

Former FTX executive Ryan Salame will reportedly avoid testifying about his role in FTX’s alleged illegal campaign donation scheme if he is subpoenaed in Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial.

Lawyers representing the former FTX co-CEO said that Salame will be unavailable as a witness to the case, according to an Aug. 14 motion filed by United States federal prosecutors.

“Salame’s attorney has represented that if subpoenaed, Salame would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination,” the prosecutor’s motion states, adding that Salame would be “unavailable as a witness.”

From the US government's motion in limine in the Sam Bankman-Fried criminal trial: "[Ryan] Salame is unavailable as a witness... Salame’s attorney has represented that if subpoenaed, Salame would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination." pic.twitter.com/NrB5d6PJDH
— Molly White (@molly0xFFF) August 15, 2023

Salame, a former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets with close ties to Sam Bankman-Fried, donated more than $24 million to Republican campaigns, according to Open Secrets.

The former FTX executive is reportedly facing possible finance campaign violation allegations of his own and is considering a plea deal with the federal prosecutors.

He was a substantial beneficiary of loans and payments given to a number of the top executives of FTX by way of the now-bankrupt firms’ trading house Alameda Research.

Salame had his house searched by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation in April. However it remains unknown what exactly they were looking for.

He was considered a close business partner of Bankman-Fried, who is currently imprisoned and is facing fraud charges in his upcoming trial in October.

Magazine: Deposit risk: What do crypto exchanges really do with your money?

7 presidential candidates have dropped clues about their crypto stance

May 29, 2023 Coin Telegraph

2024 us president

There are currently many from the Democratic and Republican parties bidding for the job of president. Here's what they’ve said about crypto.

In late 2024, citizens of the United States will take to the voting booths to elect their next president — a four-year term that could have a vast impact on the next crypto bull run.

Though polls are set to open on Nov. 5, 2024, dozens of U.S. politicians have already signaled an intention to contest President Joe Biden for the country’s top position.

The current Biden administration appears to have been taking an increasingly anti-crypto stance. Meanwhile, former president Donald Trump is again bidding for the job — setting the stage for a rematch. Others are seeking to carry the Democrat and Republican presidential nominations.

‘No fundamental value’: Joe Biden — Democrat

The current president of the United States, Joe Biden, kicked off his re-election bid on April 25, and is at the moment, the likely favorite for the Democrat’s presidential nominee.

Biden’s attitude toward crypto is possibly best summarized by his 2023 Economic Report of the President which included a section on crypto for the first time since it began in 1950.

The section aimed to debunk the “Perceived Appeal of Crypto Assets.” It argued crypto doesn’t deliver on “touted” benefits and claimed “many of them have no fundamental value.”

Biden has rallied against perceived crypto “tax loopholes” and even opposed a debt ceiling agreement with Republicans as he claimed it protected “wealthy tax cheats and crypto traders.”

We don’t have to guess what MAGA House Republicans value. They’re telling us. pic.twitter.com/BM6JGMEFeq
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 9, 2023

His March 2022 executive order culminated with the first framework for crypto. He’s called for a 30% tax on crypto mining electricity usage, doubling capital gains taxes and cracking down on crypto wash sales.

‘Not a fan of Bitcoin’: Donald Trump — Republican

The former president turned NFT salesman Trump threw in his non-consecutive re-election bid on Nov. 15, 2022. According to current polling, he’s the favored Republican nominee.

Trump has said crypto “may be fake” and is “a disaster waiting to happen.” He’s also said Bitcoin (BTC) “just seems like a scam” and didn’t like it “because it is another currency competing against the dollar.”

In July 2019 as president, Trump tweeted he was “not a fan of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies” claiming their value was “based on thin air.”

I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity....
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 12, 2019

During his presidency, Trump targeted crypto use in financial crimes and purportedly told his Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to “go after Bitcoin” in a conversation on trade sanctions against China. “Cryptocurrencies” were mentioned in his 2021 budget proposal but only for explaining their use in crimes.

He did, however, mull a capital gains tax cut which could have been favorable to crypto users. Trump administration officials did once tout distributed ledger technology (DLT) as a tech that could benefit government operations and bolster the country’s cybersecurity defenses.

‘Every right to do Bitcoin’: Ron DeSantis — Republican

Ron DeSantis said he would “protect” Bitcoin in his May 24 presidential bid announcement on Twitter. Polls taken before the Florida governor's announcement have him second favorite to Trump.

During his Twitter Space campaign kick-off, DeSantis said “You have every right to do Bitcoin” and would “protect the ability to do things like Bitcoin.”

He called out Congress, claiming it “never addressed” crypto and said regulators had made it so “that people can not operate in that space.”

Will you require any presidential candidate to support your right to #Bitcoin before they can earn your vote?
— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) May 27, 2023

His 2022–2023 budget proposal for the state of Florida proposed the government allows businesses to pay state fees with cryptocurrencies.

DeSantis is probably better known as an anti-central bank digital currency (CBDC) figure.

He passed laws in Florida prohibiting the use of a federal CBDC as money and banned the use of foreign CBDCs. He’s also rallied against the Federal Reserve’s FedNow 24/7 instant payments system, claiming it's a CBDC precursor.

‘Bitcoin should not be regulated as a security’: Vivek Ramaswamy — Republican

Pharmaceutical firm founder Vivek Ramaswamy has also signaled a pro-crypto stance but is considered a long shot for the Republican nomination.

In mid-May, Ramaswamy tweeted “Bitcoin should not be regulated as a security.” At the Bitcoin 2023 conference, he announced he would accept campaign donations in Bitcoin.

Competition breeds innovation. Bitcoin should not be regulated as a security. Will explain more at the @TheBitcoinConf on Saturday. @Bitcoin #Bitcoin #Bitcoin2023 pic.twitter.com/CtMPxIwsMR
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) May 17, 2023

At the conference, Ramaswamy reaffirmed Bitcoin should not be considered a security, saying “We need to keep it that way.”

“Bitcoin is finite in its quantity, there is no issuer. It should never have been treated as a security under the current securities laws,” he said.

‘A major innovation engine’: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — Democrat

Robert F. Kennedy Jr is seen as unlikely to be put forward by the Democrats for president — but he has signaled pro-crypto stances.

Earlier in May he said “crypto technologies are a major innovation engine" and called Bitcoin a “symbol of democracy and freedom” in a speech at the Bitcoin 2023 conference.

He is accepting BTC for campaign donations, the first presidential candidate to ever do so.

Cryptocurrencies, led by bitcoin, along with other crypto technologies are a major innovation engine. It is a mistake for the U.S. government to hobble the industry and drive innovation elsewhere. Biden’s proposed 30% tax on cryptocurrency mining is a bad idea.
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) May 3, 2023

Kennedy called Biden’s proposed 30% crypto miner energy tax “a bad idea” and opposes CBDCs as they “vastly magnify the government’s power.” He opposes the Fed’s FedNow system for a similar reason.

The others

The third favorite declared Republican candidate Nikki Haley hasn’t publicly addressed her views on crypto.

Democratic nominee Marianne Willamson hasn’t either but has implied disappointment at the Canadian government blocking crypto wallets during the trucker protests in 2022.

Canada, are you okay…? https://t.co/6vi1B3qBbq
— Marianne Williamson (@marwilliamson) February 18, 2022

Republican Senator Tim Scott is also a bidder and similarly has no stated crypto policies. He did, however, have plans to develop a crypto “bipartisan regulatory framework.”

He’s been critical of the securities regulator’s handling of FTX and questioned if they’ve been “asleep at the wheel.”

Cointelegraph contacted the campaigns of Haley, Williamson and Scott to clarify their positions on crypto but did not receive a response.

Magazine: Crypto regulation — Does SEC Chair Gary Gensler have the final say?

Economist and Political Scientist Refute Claims of US Dollar’s Demise Despite Trend of De-Dollarization News

April 17, 2023 Bitcoin.com

Balaji Srinivasan: ‘Giant Robot’ of Crypto-Friendly States Needed to Battle ‘Giant Monster’ of US Gov., Explains Why He Made Bitcoin Bet

April 13, 2023 Bitcoin.com

FEC probe demanded after SBF ‘admitted’ making dark money donations

December 9, 2022 Coin Telegraph

Coin Telegraph

Sam Bankman-Fried previously told crypto vlogger Tiffany Fong that all his Republican donations "were dark."

A watchdog group has demanded an investigation into Sam Bankman-Fried's political donations, claiming the former FTX CEO admitted to donating tens of millions of dollars to Republicans under the table, in violation of federal law.

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed the complaint with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Dec. 8, citing comments made by Bankman-Fried in a Nov. 16 interview with cryptocurrency vlogger Tiffany Fong released via YouTube on Nov. 29.

CREW suggested in its complaint that wealthy donors often take advantage of the Citizen United ruling to evade federal disclosure laws by using intermediaries and claiming they were unaware of where the funds ended up, but that Bankman-Fried’s admission negates this plausible deniability. As CREW senior vice president and chief counsel Donald Sherman notes:

“Bankman-Fried said the quiet part out loud. He admitted that he violated federal laws designed to ensure Americans have transparency into those funding elections and now needs to be held accountable.”

CREW has asked the FEC to investigate the violation, and take any further action that is appropriate such as referring the matter to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution.

The group accused Bankman-Fried of “direct and serious violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act,” which requires the disclosure of political donations of over $200 a year.

In the Nov. 16 interview with Fong, Bankman-Fried claimed to have “donated about the same to both parties." Given that he was the Democrats’ second largest donor, according to OpenSecrets, these “dark” donations appear to involve a substantial amount of money.

“All my Republican donations were dark,” SBF noted, before adding:

“The reason was not for regulatory reasons, it’s because reporters freak the fuck out if you donate to Republicans, they’re all super liberal. And I didn’t want to have that fight.”

Bankman-Fried has been on something of an apology tour since his fall from grace, making a variety of public appearances including interviews with The New York Times’ DealBook Summit, Good Morning America and plenty of Twitter Spaces.

He has repeatedly claimed that he is conducting these interviews against the advice of his lawyers, who have advised him to lay low and not say anything lest his comments land him in hot water.

Democrat