Sam Bankman-Fried met with senior advisers to President Biden at least four times this year. Most recently, Bankman-Fried met with Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, on September 8, sources told Bloomberg. The meetings focused on general crypto matters, the report said. Loading Something is loading.
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Sam Bankman-Fried had at least four meetings with senior White House advisers this year, including just two months before FTX collapsed, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Most recently, Bankman-Fried met with Steve Ricchetti, counselor to the president, on September 8, sources told Bloomberg.
The FTX founder previously met with Ricchetti on April 22 and May 12, according to White House logs cited by Bloomberg. And on May 13, Bankman-Fried met with Bruce Reed, the White House’s deputy chief of staff.
His brother, Gabriel Bankman-Fried, separately met with White House officials in March and also took part in some of the meetings with SBF.
The meetings were limited to a general conversations concerning cryptocurrencies as well as pandemic prevention in connection to a foundation run by SBF’s brother, the report said. A source also told Bloomberg that politics wasn’t discussed.
Before FTX crashed, Bankman-Fried was prominent in Washington, DC, as an advocate for regulation in the crypto industry and as a major donor to Democrats.
FTX filed for bankruptcy last month amid reports that billions of dollars in clients’ funds were transferred to his Alameda Research hedge fund.
Bankman-Fried was arrested earlier this month and is slated to appear in a New York federal court on January 3 for charges of wire fraud and conspiracy. He has denied criminal liability since stepping down as CEO of FTX.