Cryptocurrency Fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried Funded Ruben Gallego’s Senate Campaign

U.S. Senate candidate’s checkered financial history draws scrutiny as connection with tawdry big money donor come to light

Convicted cryptocurrency felon Sam Bankman-Fried, commonly referred to as SBF, made two contributions totaling $5,800 to the U.S. Senate campaign of Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego in Arizona, according to an analysis of campaign finance records from Restoration News. 

SBF, a Stanford, California resident, is the founder of FTX Trading, Ltd., a Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange that went bankrupt beginning in November 2022. He is also the founder of a cryptocurrency trading firm known as Alameda Research. Earlier this year, the Department of Justice sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison and directed him to pay $11 million in forfeiture for his involvement in multiple financial crimes. 

SBF was charged with stealing somewhere in the neighborhood of $8 billion from customers who invested in FTX accounts. Prosecutors claim the stolen funds were used to subsidize a glamorous lifestyle in the Bahamas, and also pay for investments in other companies along with political lobbying. This is where Gallego comes into play. 

In between SBF’s various financial transgressions, the former FTX CEO saw fit to make two donations to the Congressman totaling $5,800 back in 2022—one to support Gallego in the primary and the other for the general election. Gallego is now running to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by fellow Democrat Kyrsten Sinema.

This follows on a related discovery by Restoration News of a $3,000 campaign contribution by SBF partner and convicted felon Nishad Singh to Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, suggesting both Democrats are more in line with the values of Silicon Valley tech elites than their voters.

(RELATED: Convicted Cryptocurrency Felon Views Tammy Baldwin as Attractive Investment)

Who Does Gallego Really Represent?

Visitor’s to Gallego’s website will find that he is supposedly a champion of average Arizona residents who are victimized by big money special interests. Here is his message to voters:

Wall Street bankers and big corporations are getting richer every year, while the everyday folks who make up the backbone of our economy are still being squeezed. Ruben is fighting to build an economy that works for everyone, and makes life affordable for hard-working families.

But does this statement even pass the laugh test in light of the donations from SBF and Gallego’s own checkered financial history?

Gallego has, at least until recently, owned non-public stock in Aspiration, a self-described “climate friendly” online financial company based in Los Angeles currently under investigation for allegedly overstating its “green” credentials. Apparently, the donations from SBF are just one of several red flags indicating Gallego is a champion of financial schemes that benefit well-heeled narrow special interests to the detriment of constituents who are now being asked to elevate him to the U.S. Senate.

Everyday Arizona residents should know that the Department of Justice, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission are probing into the legitimacy of the Aspiration’s carbon offsets to see if it “misled customers,” according to Bloomberg. Meanwhile, the leftist outlet ProPublica has raised questions about Aspiration’s marketing campaigns, including its tree planting initiative. Apparently, the advertised number of planted trees includes the final number of trees Aspiration pledges to plant. There’s more.

Recall that the House Democrat was a persistent proponent of COVID-19 lockdowns and mandates—but not for himself. Gallego traveled to Qatar in 2021 when COVID cases were spiking that country. Why? A trade group known as the U.S.-Qatar Business Council paid for the trip, which included a stay at the oceanfront Four Seasons Hotel in Doha, Qatar’s capital city. The trade group spent more than $84,000 fly Gallego, and Rep. Eric Swalwell—a California Democrat notorious for his romantic involvement with a Chinese spy—and their wives to Qatar, according to the nonpartisan website LegiStorm. 

No wonder SBF viewed the congressman as a fellow traveler. 

The money trail flowing in and out of Gallego’s pockets suggests he is not keeping very good company even as postures as champion of everyday Arizona residents and an enemy of Wall Street bankers and corporations. The reverse may be closer to the truth. 

Then there also is the matter of Gallego’s radical policy record, which is way out of step with values of voters who will decide the election. He has essentially marched in lockstep with the Harris-Biden administration.

Read more about Ruben Gallego’s extremist record at RadicalRubenGallego.com