[justinator]

There is a more than 0% chance we will re-elect a man that has shown that he does not mind partaking in incredibly corrupt business practices out in the open. We don't even know if they would pardon themselves for crimes and has argued that they should have full immunity to do anything, including harming his adversaries. This person would not need an excuse to do anything.

[basil-rash]

Much more likely the individual for whom he was a top donor than his opponent.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/02/sam-bankman-fried-bi...

[ceejayoz]

FTX was attempting to buy influence on both sides of the aisle.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/20/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-allies...

> Ryan Salame, who was the CEO of FTX’s digital markets division, donated millions of dollars to Republican political action committees and affiliated “dark money” groups with funds from FTX’s affiliated hedge fund, Alameda Research, according to the documents. Salame pleaded guilty last month to federal campaign finance and money-transmitting crimes. Caroline Ellison, who ran Alameda and once dated Bankman-Fried, also gave millions to right-leaning nonprofit groups, the documents say.

> Bankman-Fried donated $10 million to a [Mitch] McConnell-linked group named One Nation in August 2022, according to the evidence filed by prosecutors. The money came directly from an Alameda Research account, prosecutors said.

There's little reason to believe any of that influence remains now that he's broke.

[basil-rash]

He donated far more to liberals and it’s a well known. Nobody on the right wants to see him walk free.

[ceejayoz]

https://globalnews.ca/news/9946242/ryan-salame-ftx-political...

> The purpose of those donations, he said, was to fund political initiatives supported by Bankman-Fried. In a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday, prosecutors said they had obtained private messages in which Salame wrote that Bankman-Fried wanted to support politicians in both parties who were “pro crypto,” while working to get “anti crypto” lawmakers out of office.

https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/09/07/ex-ftx-executive-...

> Salame doled out more than $24 million to Republican political candidates during his time at FTX, and he was the 11th largest individual U.S. political donor in 2022 according to OpenSecrets.org. In a court filing last month, prosecutors shared “private messages” from Salame that purport to show him explaining how he was used as a straw donor to secretly funnel money from FTX and Bankman-Fried.

https://qz.com/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-republicans-democrats-m...

> In one interview last November, Bankman-Fried admitted to donating roughly equal amounts to Democrats and Republicans but made sure that “all my Republican donations were dark.” He said he did this because he felt the press had a tendency to “freak” when donations were made to the Grand Old Party (GOP). At the 2022 midterm campaign funding cycle, he said he may have been the “second or third biggest” GOP donor.

Nobody on the left wants to see him walk free, either. His remaining political capital is nill. Politicians only care about rich donors if they remain rich donors.

[basil-rash]

If you want to believe a known fraudster saying “oh yeah I totally donated to the winning side, but I didn’t tell anyone”, that’s on you. But it doesn’t change the fact that Trump is very unlikely to pardon someone who publically donated to his opponent, and maybe privately donated to some random GOP members he refers to as “the swamp”. And that’s only if we take as fact some guys “oh yeah I used stolen money to make political donations, but I was just following orders” statement as uttered in a trial.

[ceejayoz]

> If you want to believe a known fraudster saying “oh yeah I totally donated to the winning side, but I didn’t tell anyone”, that’s on you.

Salame has pled guilty to this, and his tens of millions in donations are entirely in the public record. https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=Ryan+S...

[xdavidliu]

> He donated far more to liberals

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/12/sam-bankma...

"He was lauded for his major donations to Democrats, but now he says he was secretly giving to Republicans in roughly equal measure."

[basil-rash]

“Convicted fraudster makes unsubstantiated claims, internet cites them as concrete evidence. More at 6.”

[xdavidliu]

is it still considered well-known that he donated far more to liberals than republicans?

[michaelt]

If you're cynical enough to believe donating cash to politicians directly buys pardons - then surely you're also cynical enough to realise the politician doesn't have to uphold their end of the bargain.

It's not like SBF is going to be making any big future donations.

Donors hoping for favours know donations only buy so much; the politician takes the money in order to improve their chances of getting elected. If you want a favour which noticeably reduces their chance of getting re-elected - you won't get it.

[basil-rash]

Ok and this makes Trump more likely to pardon him than Biden how?