- Sam Bankman-Fried alleges Biden administration targeted him for political reasons.
- Lost SEC messages reignite controversy over FTX founder’s arrest timing.
- Bankman-Fried insists his prosecution was retaliation for Republican donations.
Sam Bankman-Fried alleged that his December 2022 arrest was engineered by the Biden administration after shifting his political contributions toward Republicans.
According to a post he dictated via an approved Bureau of Prisons phone to a friend on GETTR, he had previously aligned with center-left causes in 2020 but said he evolved toward a centrist stance in 2022. He claimed that within weeks of donating “tens of millions” to Republicans, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice initiated enforcement actions against him.
He added that the timing appeared suspicious. He said federal agents arrested him just weeks before a crypto regulation bill he supported was due for a vote. He also noted that the arrest occurred the night before he was scheduled to testify before Congress.
He further accused SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s office of having “conveniently lost” internal communications that would illuminate decision-making around his case.
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Missing Messages and Investigation Implications
Last month, the SEC’s Office of Inspector General acknowledged that the agency’s IT office enacted an automated policy that wiped all data from Gensler’s government-issued mobile device. The wipe erased text messages from October 2022 through September 2023, the report said. The scope of enforcement against crypto firms expanded during that period, including major actions against Coinbase and Binance.
According to news outlets, House Republicans at the time demanded Gensler disclose internal communications to explain whether his office sought to prevent Bankman-Fried from testifying.
Conviction, Appeal, and Continuing Claims
After being arrested in the Bahamas in December 2022, Bankman-Fried was found guilty in November 2023 on multiple fraud and conspiracy charges tied to the collapse of FTX. He is serving a 25-year sentence and has appealed the conviction. He and his family have argued repeatedly that he was wrongly prosecuted. They sought clemency through former President Donald Trump, who is currently president of the United States and has previously issued pardons in crypto matters.
Sam Bankman-Fried noted in another GETTR message that he cannot post directly from prison and must dictate via approved BOP channels. According to his post, he believes the regulatory arm of the Biden administration acted politically against him. He reiterated that Gensler’s lost messages may conceal the true motives behind the timing of his arrest.
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