SBF's political dreams: The fraudster hoped his crypto swindle would make him 'hugely influential', but his DC dreams came crashing down with collapse of his FTX empire

Before his fall from grace, FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was plotting out a high-flying political career, donating millions to both parties and even believing he could one day be president.

He was pictured with politicians, including Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, and was leveraging donations to gain influence with policymakers - at one point he even was touted as the next George Soros. 

Testifying at his trial, his former girlfriend and business partner, Caroline Ellison revealed he thought he had a 5 percent chance of becoming president one day.

All of that came crumbling down in December 2022, after his multi-billion dollar crypto exchange collapsed and he was arrested in the Bahamas and charged with campaign finance violations and fraud. 

Prosecutors accused him of donating $90million of customer's money to political campaigns including $6 million to the House Majority PAC, the main outside group supporting House Democrats.

Bankman-Fried had expansive political ambitions, donating millions of dollars to both political parties 

Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years behind bars and ordered to forfeit $11billion for scamming FTX crypto exchange investors leaving his political dreams dead in the water

Those charges were later dropped, but the scale of the donations demonstrated the strength of his political ambitions - that included pictures with liberal California Rep. Maxine Waters and appearing on stage with Clinton.

Testifying in his trial in October, Ellison said Bankman-Fried had often talked to her about his business and political plans. 

She said he believed there was a '5 percent chance he would become president.'

She added Bankman-Fried used FTX customer money to make political donations because he believed he would reap 'very high returns in terms of influence.'

She gave an example of a $10 million donation to President Joe Biden that she said he believed would bring 'influence and recognition.' 

In the 2022 election cycle, Bankman-Fried donated $6 million to the House Majority PAC, the main outside group supporting House Democrats.

He also shelled out $27 million to Protect Our Future PAC, a group advocating pandemic preparedness, and $6 million to the Future Forward PAC' in 2020 which supported Biden's 2020 Presidential run. 

Among the individual recipients was New York Democrat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who received $5,800 from Bankman-Fried in June 2022.

Caroline Ellison testified that her former boyfriend thought there was a five percent chance he could be President

The FTX exchange was worth $32billion at its peak and Bankman-Fried appeared on the cover of Forbes magazine which touted him as the future of finance

A joint fundraising group associated with the candidate, called 'Gillibrand Victory Fund', also collected $10,800. 

Bankman-Fried also donated to Republican candidates, such as the Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy who received $5,800 from the fraudster in August 2021. 

In November, Bankman-Fried claimed while on a call with YouTuber journalist Tiffany Fong that he donated an equal amount to Republicans and Democrats. 

He told her: 'All my Republican donations were dark [meaning they don't appear in FEC filings].

'The reason was not for regulatory reasons, it's because reporters freak the f—k out if you donate to Republicans. They're all super liberal, and I didn't want to have that fight.

He also reportedly considered paying former US president Donald Trump $5 billion to not run, 'Going Infinite' author Michael Lewis told 60 minutes in October 2023.

Sens. Debbie Stabenow, D, and John Boozman, R, who co-sponsored a crypto regulatory bill SBF supports, gave their FTX-linked donations to charity

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., said he had given the FTX donation to a West Virginia food bank

A number of politicians were forced to return their donations after he was charged. 

The campaign of Beto O'Rourke, who ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for Texas governor, was one of the first return a massive check from Bankman-Fried. 

The campaign said it gave back the $1 million donation on November 4, before FTX filed for bankruptcy, because the donation was unsolicited. 

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., scored $20,800 from Bankman-Fried between campaign donations and donations to a PAC supporting her, and Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., received $13,700 from Bankman-Fried and co-CEO Ryan Salame. 

Boozman said he would donate the money he received from Bankman-Fried to the UA Foundation Jon Richardson Scholarship Fund and Stabenow said she plans to give the money to a local charity in her state.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., said he had given the FTX donation to a West Virginia food bank