Disgraced cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried met with four Biden officials this year before the collapse of his FTX empire and his arrest in the Bahamas.
The Democratic donor, 30, awaiting trial for what prosecutors say is one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history held talks with senior White House advisor Steve Ricchetti on September 8, Bloomberg reported on Thursday.
He has had at least two other meetings with Ricchetti on April 22 and May 12 and another with top aide Bruce Reed.
Bankman-Fried’s brother Gabriel also participated in a meeting on his own on May 13.
The latest report is further evidence of the deep ties Bankman-Fried had with Washington before he was charged with swindling investors out of at least $1.8 billion.
The White House has refused to say whether Biden will give back some of the $5.2 million in donations from the fallen FTX founder gave to his campaign and connected groups in 2020.
Bankman-Fried is now under house arrest at his parents’ $4million home in Palo Alto, California, after he was freed in a Manhattan court on a $250 million bond. The former CEO, 30, is facing securities and wire fraud charges related to his collapsed crypto exchange FTX.
Bloomberg reported that the meetings focused on the crypto industry and exchanges, and did not involve politics.
Bankman-Fried was the Democratic party’s second biggest donor in the 2022 election cycle and has appeared in hearings on Capitol Hill.
Candidates have now donated the cash to charity, given it back or are waiting for the Department of Justice to determine how it should be dealt with.
Prosecutors say Bankman-Fried used FTX like a ‘personal piggy bank’, funneling money into his other company, Alameda.
He will be arraigned in a Manhattan court on January 3 and if convicted on all charges, is facing 115 years in prison.
Following his December 12 arrest in the Bahamas, Bankman-Fried was held in the notorious Fox Hill Prison, where inmates are reportedly crammed in cells with multiple other inmates, without access to running water or other means of basic hygiene.
Read More: Sam Bankman-Fried had four White House meetings THIS YEAR
