O'Rourke's campaign for the midterm elections received a donation of $1 million from the troubled leader of the bitcoin industry, Sam Bankman-Fried.
Democratic leader Beto O'Rourke's campaign for midterm elections received a $1 million donation from embattled cryptocurrency leader Sam Bankman-Fried, a report has revealed.
Bankman-Fried is the founder of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange with a market capitalization of $32 billion prior to its abrupt closure a couple of days earlier this month, which caused widespread anxiety throughout the sector.
There is a high risk that the popular cryptocurrency platform may cause some or all of its users to lose the money they have invested, and high-profile individuals are alleged to have ties with this — including O'Rourke.
According to information provided by O'Rourke's campaign to The Texas Tribune, this Democratic candidate returned that $1 million donation from Bankman-Fried prior to the elections.
The team working for O'Rourke stated that they returned the donation a week before FTX filed for bankruptcy and Bankman-Fried stepped down as the company's chief executive.
Chris Evans, a spokesperson for O'Rourke's campaign, stated that the reimbursement of the donation check to the campaign had nothing to do with the scandals that have been linked to Bankman-cryptocurrency Fried's exchange, which is currently failing.
Evans explained that the donation of money, which had been received on October 11th, had been returned since it had not been requested.
This spokesperson added that O'Rourke had yet to discuss the donation with Bankman-Fried prior to it being made, which was different from the case with earlier substantial contributions, and that the enormous amount caught the campaign off guard.
In a statement to a media house, he said:
This contribution was unsolicited, and the campaign's upcoming [Texas Ethics Commission] report will show that it was returned back on November 4, prior to the news stories that would later come out about the donor".
O'Rourke's team insisted, and they are adamant that the decision to return the donation was made prior to November 4 and that it took time to execute.
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