Sam Bankman-Fried was no stranger to the White House.
The embattled cryptocurrency mogul, who has been accused of bilking FTX customers out of billions of dollars, met with Steve Ricchetti, a senior adviser to President Biden, on Sept. 8, according to Bloomberg News.
Visitor logs also show Mr. Bankman-Fried was at the White House at least three other times, including a pair of meetings on April 22 and May 12 with Mr. Ricchetti, and the following day with White House deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed.
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Bloomberg News reported Mr. Bankman-Fried’s visits to the White House — including some with his brother — were to discuss the crypto industry and exchanges.
Federal prosecutors this month charged Mr. Bankman-Fried with defrauding investors out of billions of dollars and making illegal campaign contributions.
The indictment said Mr. Bankman-Fried’s political spending violated campaign finance laws by funneling tens of millions of dollars in contributions to political candidates under the names of other donors.
Mr. Bankman-Fried’s dramatic fall from being a billionaire investor darling of the crypto industry to indicted huckster has shined a light on the growing industry, and his close ties to Washington.
He gave millions of dollars in donations to Democrats, becoming the party’s second-largest donor in the 2022 election cycle. Meanwhile, Ryan Salame, another top executive at FX, donated millions to Republicans.
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