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Comment by grumpyprole | Hacker News Reader

He donated to both sides, the objective seems to have been to influence crypto policy and regulation.

Not really. He gave $40M to democrats and $200k to republicans. [0]

If his aim was to influence crypto policy then he would have donated very differently. It appears he was lobbying for his own political ideology and not just to benefit his crappy company.

[0] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/here-are-the-politicians-w...

We don't really know what the split was. SBF has claimed he donated significantly more to the republicans. From your link above:

The GOP donations were "dark-money" contributions, making his claim difficult to verify. Such secret contributions, allowed by the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling, wouldn’t show up in the FEC disclosures used to compile MarketWatch’s list

> SBF has claimed

I put little weight on the words of a convicted fraudster who is in jail awaiting sentencing.

What would he have to gain by lying about spending even more customer money? I see it as a boast of how well he was playing the game; and also an admission that he was trying to buy influence.

If he primarily donated to one party, the donations advance Sam's political views.

If he equally donated to both parties, the donations advance FTX's interests.

I believe that Sam would advance his own interests then lie to make himself appear neutral.

Yes I concede this is possible too.

His partner took care of the Republicans. They split their responsibility to fairness.

I'm fairly confident all of Bankman-Fraud's donations went to the wealthy and well-connected.

The majority of his publicly known 'donations' went to the 'Protect Our Future PAC' [1] which is about "pandemic preparedness and planning."

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_Our_Future

Technically true, but effectively irrelevant

How is that irrelevant? Usually when someone is caught bribing politicians with billions of dollars of stolen money, it's considered kind of relevant where that money went?

Bribes to Democratic Party and related entities vastly outweighed those to republican.

https://x.com/unusual_whales/status/1741188908694864126?s=46...

Can you specify what exactly it is that you think is "irrelevant"? Because it sounds to me like you are contradicting yourself. First you say it's irrelevant where the money went, now you sound like it's relevant after all?

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