Sam Bankman-Fried Accuses Biden of a Politically Motivated Arrest

By Emir Abyazov

 

From donor to target

Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX, claimed on October 15 that his 2022 arrest was politically motivated by the Biden administration — allegedly because he shifted his campaign donations toward Republicans.

Posting on GETTR, Bankman-Fried outlined his political journey: in 2020, he identified as center-left, but by 2022, he called himself a centrist. What caused this shift? According to him, the Biden administration’s tough stance on crypto and the actions of then-SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.

“In 2020, I was center-left. By 2022—having seen Gensler/Biden’s DOJ on crypto—I was a centrist, and (privately) donated tens of millions to Republicans,” Bankman-Fried wrote in a post reportedly shared by a friend. 

Source: Gettr

House Republicans later raised similar concerns, suggesting his arrest may have been designed to “prevent Sam Bankman-Fried from testifying,” and demanded that Gensler turn over internal correspondence.

The case of the “lost” SEC messages

Bankman-Fried revived those suspicions in his latest comments, alleging that Gensler had “conveniently lost” crucial internal messages.

The claim gained traction last month when the SEC’s Office of Inspector General reported that an automated IT policy “resulted in the complete wipe of Gensler’s official mobile device.”

Source: House of Representatives

Messages from October 2022 through September 2023 were permanently deleted — coinciding with a surge of enforcement actions against major crypto companies like Coinbase and Binance.

After being arrested in the Bahamas in December 2022, Bankman-Fried was convicted in November 2023 on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy for misusing billions in FTX customer funds. He is serving a 25-year prison sentence and appealing the verdict.

The Arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried in the Bahamas. Source: AFP via Getty Images

Bankman-Fried and his family insist he was wrongfully convicted and have asked President Trump, who has already pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, to consider a similar pardon.

Whether coincidence or political payback, the timing of his arrest and the vanishing SEC messages continue to fuel one of crypto’s most controversial narratives.

Source:: Sam Bankman-Fried Accuses Biden of a Politically Motivated Arrest