Bitcoin may be surging to new heights this week, but some Democrats are likely cursing cryptocurrency.
The Democratic National Committee and an associated joint fundraising committee surrendered $765,000 from a convicted crypto executive to a federal agency best known for hunting suspected criminals, according to a Raw Story review of federal campaign finance records.
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The DNC and the joint fundraising committee, the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund, sent $365,000 and $400,000, respectively, to the U.S. Marshals Service on Jan. 8, becoming the latest political committees to cough up contributions from executives of now-defunct cryptocurrency company, FTX.
The original contributions came in 2022 from Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO and founder of FTX. A federal jury in October convicted Bankman-Fried of stealing $8 billion from customers — which he in part used to finance political contributions, The New York Times reported.
The DNC did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.
Raw Story first reported in April that the U.S. Marshals began collecting money donated by Bankman-Fried and other former FTX executives — an all-but-unprecedented occurrence for the federal agency.
By September, the Marshals had collected upwards of $1.35 million from more than 150 political campaigns and committees, Raw Story reported.
Now, the Marshals have collected more than $2.3 million in FTX donations, according to Raw Story’s latest review of Federal Election Commission records.
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The “disgorgements” from the DNC and Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund are the largest single divestments of FTX-related campaign cash behind $500,000 returned by Priorities USA Action, a Democratic super PAC, according to FEC records.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee previously forwarded a $250,000 contribution to the U.S. Marshals, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee sent back $36,500.
Republican committees forfeited five and six-figure donations, too, including the National Republican Senatorial Committee ($109,500) and the Republican National Committee ($25,000).
Campaigns for prominent politicians ranging from House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) also sent the Marshals money from FTX-related executives.
The DNC raised nearly $137.4 million between Jan. 1, 2023 and Jan. 31, 2024, and the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund raised more than $12.3 million in that same time period, according to FEC records.
The Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund helps fund the DNC as well as state-level Democratic party committees across the nation.
Nicholas Biase, a spokesperson for the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, which prosecuted Bankman-Fried’s case, referred questions to the U.S. Marshals.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals did not respond to Raw Story’s request for comment.
Bankman-Fried donated more than $40 million to political causes during the 2022 election cycle, according to a CBS News analysis.
Bankman-Fried, who turns 32 today, is awaiting sentencing within the next two weeks and could face more than 100 years in prison; however, his lawyers are arguing that he serve no more than six-and-a-half years.
