Gen Z Rep.-elect Maxwell Frost says he's giving campaign donation from Sam Bankman-Fried to charity

Maxwell Frost is the first member of Gen Z to be elected to Congress after he won Florida's 10th Congressional District last month

Congressman-elect Maxwell Frost admitted on Wednesday that he received a political donation from disgraced crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried - and that he's now donating that money to an LGBTQ+ charity.

He also disclosed that his campaign for Florida's 10th Congressional District was also supported by cash from Bankman-Fried via a progressive PAC called Protect Our Future.

At 25 years old, Democrat Frost is the first member of Gen Z to be elected to Congress. 

He's also among the new and incumbent lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who have benefited from Bankman-Fried's cash.

It comes after the collapse of the 30-year-old's multibillion dollar cryptocurrency firm FTX rocked the financial world and resulted in client losses of $10 billion.

Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas earlier this week and is expected to be extradited to the United States. 

'It seems clear that Sam Bankman Fried cheated and conned over a million people out of their money. Many of these being working class families that lost their life savings,' Frost wrote on Twitter on Wednesday.

He denounced Bankman-Fried's 'scam' and called for him to be 'held accountable.'

'I never solicited a donation from SBF, but he did donate to my campaign,' Frost disclosed. 

He called the cash 'stolen money.'

Frost revealed that he got a donation from disgraced crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried, who was arrested in the Bahamas earlier this week and is facing possible extradition to the United States

'I’m donating his contribution to [Zebra Coalition] which helps serve LGBTQ+ youth facing homelessness, bullying, isolation from their families, and physical, sexual and drug abuse with individualized programs to guide them to recovery and stability,' Frost announced.

The incoming lawmaker further revealed, 'He also funded a Super PAC called Protect Our Future which spent money in my district supporting me.'

'I never solicited their support. I don't want or need support from those scamming working folks, and I'm going to fight to get dark money out of politics,' Frost said.

Since 2020, Bankman-Fried has given that PAC $27 million, financial records show. 

Bankman-Fried was charged with eight counts including money laundering and fraud by the Southern District of New York.

Frost released a lengthy statement on Twitter revealing his campaign's financial benefit from Bankman-Fried, and announcing he was donating it to the Zebra Coalition charity

He was meant to appear in front of two Congressional hearings this week investigating the collapse of his multibillion-dollar company FTX and its sister company Alameda - and the loss of as much as $10 billion in client funds. 

The company's implosion, seemingly at the hands of its reckless executives, has spurred a renewed interest on Capitol Hill in regulating cryptocurrency, which has largely operated outside of the bounds of oversight thus far.

Bankman-Fried, FTX and its employees have been accused of grossly misusing billions of dollars in client funds through risky bets that were against its own policy and a shocking lack of record-keeping.

John J Ray III, the company's new CEO appointed to shepherd the company through bankruptcy, blamed the corporate destruction of FTX on the 'absolute concentration of control in the hands of a very small group of grossly inexperienced and unsophisticated individuals' in a House hearing on Tuesday.

Bankman-Fried's donations to Democrats and left-wing groups over the last two years come second only to liberal billionaire George Soros, according to an analysis by the Washington Post.

But he also claimed to be the 'second or third biggest' GOP donor of the 2022 midterm election cycle in a phone interview with journalist Tiffany Fong.

'[R]eporters freak the f*** out if you donate to a Republican because they’re all super liberal,' Bankman-Fried told her. 

'And I didn’t want to have that fight, so I just made all the Republican ones dark.'

He also gave personal donations to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including Democrat Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Corey Booker of New Jersey - as well as GOP Sens. John Boozman of Arkansas and Susan Collins of Maine.

A Republican group, Alabama Conservatives Fund, got more than $100,000 from Bankman-Fried since 2020.