>Bake is GHOST
BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: Steve Scalise and 13 RINO Holdouts Derailing Jim Jordan Are Connected to FTX and Voter Mule Donations
joehoft.com/breaking-exclusive-steve-scalise-and-13-rino-holdouts-derailing-jim-jordan-are-connected-to-ftx-and-voter-mule-donations
October 19, 2023
CONGRESMAN STEVE SCALISE (R-LA), WHO IS UNDERMINING JIM JORDAN FOR HOUSE SPEAKER, TOOK MONEY FROM SAM BANKMAN-FRIED’S ILLEGAL FTX CAMPAIGN FINANCE OPERATION, AS DID 13 OF THE 22 RINO HOLDOUTS
According to Breitbart, Steve Scalise (R-LA) is the driving force behind the twenty-two RINOs who have prevented Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) from clenching the House Speakership after two rounds of votes. Trump-endorsed Jordan is the clear choice of grassroots conservatives. A top House GOP aide reported, “[Constituents] are literally melting the phone lines. Some offices’ numbers are permanently busy. Thousands and thousands of people are calling their members of Congress demanding Jordan for Speaker.”
But several sources are claiming Steve Scalise is orchestrating the holdout that is preventing Jordan from clenching the speakership, including Debbie Dooley, a grassroots activist and Louisiana native:
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TIME TO REMOVE @SteveScalise from being Majority Leader. He is untrustworthy…
I am hearing from very reliable sources that @SteveScaliseGOP @SteveScalise is doing his favorite thing to do – back stabbing. Not the first time either. I know what…
— Debbie Dooley (@Crimsontider) October 17, 2023
Why would Scalise want to undermine the clear choice of the people and President Trump? Evidence unearthed by grassroots researchers in Scalise’s home state of Louisiana indicates that Scalise is has taken money from the FTX money laundering scandal.
The Former co-CEO of FTX, Ryan Salame, pled guilty early last month to “Conspiracy to Make Unlawful Political Contributions and Defraud the Federal Election Commission and Conspiracy to Operate an Unlicensed Money Transmitting Business.” Salame admitted that his job at FTX was to illegally funnel money to Republican politicians and political causes, while his co-conspirator, Sam Bankman-Fried, funneled money to Democrats. According to Salame, the donations were to support initiatives supported by Bankman-Fried. Bankman-Fried’s dearest initiative appears to be Joe Biden himself, as he made the second-largest single donation to his 2020 presidential campaign.
Another initiative of Bankman-Fried was Steve Scalise, the man currently preventing Jim Jordan from becoming Speaker. Bankman-Fried’s straw donor and co-CEO, Salame, donated $2,900 to Scalise a month before the 2022 Midterms ($2,900 is the maximum donation allowed by an individual):
ENTRY FROM FEC RECORD FOR FTX DONATION TO STEVE SCALISE'S CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN
In fact, thirteen of the twenty-two holdout RINOs also accepted donations from Ryan Salame – almost all of them maximum donations.
The RINOs who accepted these funds include Kay Granger (TX-12th), Mike Simpson (ID-2nd), Carols Gimenez (FL-28th), Jen Higgins (VA-2nd) , Marinette Miller-Meeks (IA-2nd), Mike Lawler (NY-17th), Steve Womack (AR-3rd), Mike Kelly (PA-16th), Mike Simpson (ID-2nd), Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-26th), Linda Chavez-Deremer (OR-5th), Andrew Garbarino (NY 2nd), Tony Gonzales (TX-23rd), and John Rutherford (FL-5th).
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ENTRIES FROM FEC RECORD FOR DONATIONS MADE BY RYAN SALAME, FTX CO-CEO
Direct, illegal donations from criminals like Ryan Salame and his co-conspirators are just the tip of the iceberg. It is suspected that FTX, and entities like it, are laundering possibly billions of dollars to politicians and causes all over the country through fraudulent campaign donor mules.
As previously uncovered by The Gateway Pundit and the O’Keefe Media Group, donor mules are people whose identities are being used without their knowledge to launder large amounts of cash into campaign coffers of politicians. These fraudulent donations make it appear that these politicians have significant support from real people, when they are really being funded illegally by special interests. The donations are typically small, but frequent. The small amounts don’t arouse as much suspicion as large donations, but the total amount of cash from single individuals can add up to tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of dollars. Follow-up investigations with the people whose identities are being stolen often reveal that they are average Americans who are really donating only small amounts to one or two candidates, but they are being credited with massive numbers of donations in the Federal Election Commission (FEC) records.
Steve Scalise’s FEC records indicate significant donor mule activity. For example, a retired woman from Marietta, Georgia is credited with donating to Scalise 98 times in a single day with amounts varying from $3 to $22.50:
FEC RECORDS FOR STEVE SCALISE SHOW 98 DONATIONS FROM ONE RETIRED INDIVIDUAL ON A SINGLE DAY
There are many similar incidents in Scalise’s FEC records. Research continues on how much mule activity appears in the campaign accounts of the twenty-two holdouts preventing Jim Jordan from becoming speaker.
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https://twitter.com/RaulEHernandez6/status/1604254511677194240
Bankman-Fried used FTX customer funds to make large political donations to both political parties, and said that “all my Republican donations were dark,” meaning undisclosed. Among the GOP recipients were Rep. Steve Scalise, LA and Rep. Greg Pence, IN.
apnews.com
Lawmakers quick to unload FTX founder's contributions
Lawmakers who eagerly accepted piles of cash from Samuel Bankman-Fried now can’t move fast enough to offload contributions from the disgraced crypto mogul to anywhere but their own campaign coffers.
6:17 PM · Dec 17, 2022
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'' Lawmakers quick to unload FTX founder’s contributions''
apnews.com/article/ftx-campaign-contributions-offloaded-a6dcd8bc5dd430e0a816c676acf2b207
FATIMA HUSSEIN, Seung Min KimDecember 16, 2022
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This photo provided by ABC News/Good Morning America shows George Stephanopoulos interviews Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, on Dec. 1, 2022 on ABC’s Good Morning America in New York. The U.S. government charged Samuel Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, with a host of financial crimes on Tuesday, alleging he intentionally deceived customers and investors to enrich himself and others, while playing a central role in the company’s multibillion-dollar collapse. (ABC News/Good Morning America via AP)
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FILE - The FTX Arena logo is seen where the Miami Heat basketball team plays on Nov. 12, 2022, in Miami. The former CEO of failed crypto firm FTX Sam Bankman-Fried has been arrested in the Bahamas at the request of the U.S. government, the U.S. attorney’s office in New York said Monday, Dec. 12. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A writer’s workshop in Alaska. Food banks in California. A charity that fights diabetes.
Lawmakers who accepted piles of cash from onetime wunderkind Samuel Bankman-Fried now can’t move fast enough to offload their contributions from the disgraced crypto mogul to anywhere else but their own campaign coffers.
Before his arrest in the Bahamas this week, Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was a prolific political donor to individual candidates — from local campaigns all the way up to President Joe Biden — as well as super PACs that can wield outsized influence in campaigns. But in a matter of days, Bankman-Fried — a proponent of “effective altruism” — became a pariah facing allegations of massive financial fraud and potentially decades in prison.
The Associated Press contacted more than four dozen current and incoming lawmakers who received campaign contributions from Bankman-Fried this election cycle — a group that included members of both political parties and chambers of Congress, but predominantly House Democrats. Many of the recipients of Bankman-Fried’s cash were quick to respond, stressing that they had already donated or plan to send the money to charity. Several also stressed that the lawmakers did not solicit the contributions from Bankman-Fried.
Recipients of Bankman-Fried’s campaign largesse included lawmakers at the most senior levels of House and Senate Democratic leadership. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., the incoming leader of House Democrats, donated the contribution to the American Diabetes Association. Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., who will be the third-ranking House Democrat next year, donated his contributions from Bankman-Fried to local charities last month.
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In the Senate, Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the chamber, will donate his contribution to an “appropriate charity,” a spokeswoman said. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who will be third in line to the presidency next year, will donate her cash to a local Washington state charity.
Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., donated Bankman-Fried’s contributions to Planned Parenthood North Central States. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., sent his cash to food banks across California. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, donated her contribution to Storyknife Writers Retreat in Homer, Alaska.
Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, who is strongly hinting he’ll challenge Democrat-turned-independent Kyrsten Sinema for the Senate, gave the $5,800 he received from Bankman-Fried to incoming Democratic Rep. Andrea Salinas of Oregon. In her Democratic primary, Salinas defeated a rival backed by millions of spending from Bankman-Fried.
“Congress must take immediate action to regulate the crypto industry, implement strict oversight standards and shield consumers from schemes like this in the future,” said Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., who added she will donate her Bankman-Fried contribution to a bankruptcy fund to compensate FTX customers.
Sens. Cory Booker, D-N.J., John Boozman, R-Ark., Bill Cassidy, R-La., Susan Collins, R-Maine, John Hoeven, R-N.D., Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., Sen.-elect Peter Welch, D-Vt., and Reps. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., Salud Carbajal, D-Calif., Joe Neguse, D-Colo., Josh Harder, D-Calif., Kim Schrier, D-Wash., Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., all donated their Bankman-Fried donations to various charities or plan to, according to their aides.
The main campaign committees dedicated to electing congressional Democrats also received tens of thousands from Bankman-Fried, while House Majority PAC, a deep-pocketed outside group backing House Democrats, got a $6 million contribution, according to FEC records. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee did not return requests for comment on what the groups planned to do with Bankman-Fried’s contributions. The House Majority PAC declined to comment.
The White House has also been mum on the multimillion-dollar boost his presidential bid received. Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre referred inquiries to the Democratic National Committee, which declined to comment.
Then there were the millions given to more obscure political action committees: The Protect Our Future PAC, financed by Bankman-Fried, spent up to $2 million in ads in support of Lucy McBath, who ran a successful campaign in Georgia’s 7th Congressional District against incumbent Rep. Carolyn Bordeaux. Bankman-Fried wired at least $27 million to the PAC in 2022, according to the FEC website.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Bordeaux said the dilemma surrounding Bankman-Fried’s campaign spending isn’t as simple as returning individual donations. In some cases, the money already has been used to affect elections.
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“The larger issue at play is the super PACs,” Bordeaux said. “That’s not something they can refund. Here is an example of a billionaire using money he stole and diverted into political contributions — it’s an egregious example of the corruption in our political system.”
“This is a good opportunity to reopen the conversation about campaign finance reform,” she said.
Brett Kappel, a longtime campaign finance attorney who has worked for both Republicans and Democrats, said it would be “prudent” for members of Congress who received donations from Bankman Fried or other FTX officials to set the money aside “given the high likelihood the bankruptcy receiver will be seeking their return.”
That’s because, in bankruptcy cases, courts have often sided with those looking to recoup money that they unfairly lost. Lawmakers who gave donations from company officials to charity could still find themselves on the hook to return the money they received – or face the perilous optics of stiffing constituents who lost investments when the company melted down.
Still, the lawmakers face no liability themselves “unless they knew the contributions were illegal at the time they received them,” Kappel said.
The U.S. government charged 30-year-old Bankman-Fried with a host of financial crimes this week, alleging he intentionally deceived customers and investors to enrich himself and others, while playing a central role in the company’s multibillion-dollar collapse.
Among the counts listed in his indictment is conspiracy to defraud the United States and violating campaign finance laws enforced by the Federal Election Commission. At a press conference on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Bankman-Fried made “tens of millions of dollars” in illegal campaign donations.
The Securities and Exchange Commission complaint alleges that Bankman-Fried raised more than $1.8 billion from investors since May 2019 by promoting FTX as a safe, responsible platform for trading crypto assets but instead diverted customers’ funds to a privately held crypto hedge fund called Alameda Research LLC without telling them.
The SEC says Bankman-Fried then used those customer funds to make undisclosed venture investments, lavish real estate purchases and large political donations. He contributed funds to both political parties, Bankman-Fried said in an interview last month, adding that “all my Republican donations were dark,” meaning undisclosed.
On the Republican side, Ryan Salame, the co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, one of FTX’s affiliates, contributed millions to Republicans on behalf of Bankman-Fried, including to Rep. Steve Scalise in Louisiana, Rep. Greg Pence in Indiana and others.
Bankman-Fried also sent campaign cash to a slew of incoming House Democrats, including Reps.-elect Becca Balint, D-Vt., Nikki Budzinski, D-Ill., Robert Garcia, D-Calif., Sydney Kamlager, D-Calif., Morgan McGarvey, D-Ky., and Brittany Pettersen, D-Colo., who all donated their contributions to local charities. Tweeting that he rejects not just corporate PAC cash but also “stolen money,” Rep.-elect Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., said he donated his contribution to the Zebra Coalition, a group that aids LGBT youth.
“The situation with FTX is both distressing and unsettling,” said Rep.-elect Valerie Foushee, D-N.C. She said she donated her contribution to a non-profit in Chapel Hill.
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