One of Joe Biden’s largest donors is in the legal battle of his life.
He’s facing a slew of federal charges related to one of the most shocking corporate scandals in decades.
And now, this top Biden donor just got news that could land him behind bars for years.
It has been a rough month for Biden mega-donor Sam Bankman-Fried, who went from watching his crypto empire implode in the span of just 24 hours, to being arrested in the Bahamas and facing the possibility of spending decades behind bars.
Bankman-Fried is being charged with a host of crimes by federal prosecutors, including fraud, after his crypto exchange FTX imploded in early November 2022.
In the process, it was learned that billions of dollars were secretly funneled to FTX’s sister company, Alameda Research.
The fate of that money, and its current whereabouts, is presently unknown.
But after posting a massive $250 million bail, Bankman-Fried is now spending the rest of the year in house arrest with his parents as he prepares for the trial of the century.
However, Bankman-Fried’s troubles haven’t just ended with his own looming court battle.
In fact, he just received word that could make it even more likely that he will end up spending decades in prison.
CNBC reports, “FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former Alameda Research co-CEO Caroline Ellison have both pleaded guilty to federal charges, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams, said Wednesday.
“Wang pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. Ellison pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
“In a statement, the SEC said that Wang and Ellison had also accepted ‘bifurcated settlements’ in connection with the complaints and are cooperating.”
The news about two of Bankman-Fried’s closest associates, including his own ex-girlfriend and former CEO of Alameda Research, is a serious blow from which he may not be able to recover.
The decision to cooperate with federal prosecutors was likely not a difficult one for Caroline Ellison, who was facing so many charges that if convicted of them all she would have been sentenced to over 100 years in prison.
The same situation faced Gary Wang, who has decided to turn on his old friend and business partner in order to spare himself from the worst of the legal trouble he had likewise found himself in.
The decision by both Ellison and Wang to turn on Bankman-Fried and join the federal prosecution against him represents a serious blow to the founder of FTX and former Biden mega-donor, who is looking at the real possibility of losing virtually every remaining cent that remains in his possession.
This means that Bankman-Fried appears unlikely to be contributing to Democrats anytime soon.
For Democrats like Joe Biden, this news also serves as a major blow, due to the fact that Bankman-Fried was not just Biden’s second largest donor in 2020, but also donated a further $40 million to Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections.
