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The decline in the wealth of the cryptocurrency billionaire and the collapse of his company into bankruptcy are being used by some social media users to weave stories about money laundering related to US aid to Ukraine and campaign contributions to Democrats.
The posts do not reflect the theme. They note that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is a Democratic megadonor, and that FTX has ties to a fundraising site that helps people donate cryptocurrencies for Ukraine’s war with Russia. But the ads combine the fundraising scene with the tens of billions of dollars the US has sent to Ukraine.
“US taxpayers went to Ukraine in the form of military and humanitarian aid,” began one of the Instagram posts of November 14. “Ukraine cooperated with FTX and spent a lot of money. The founder/CEO of FTX is the second largest donor to the Democrat Party, PACs and candidates… FTX is the middleman of the money making industry.”
We found it dozen of posts making similar claims, some sharing the headline of an article from the conservative website The Gateway Pundit.
The post was marked as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false and misleading information on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
Bankman-Fried founded the FTX cryptocurrency exchange in 2019, and the firm soon became a thriving business, valued at $32 billion in January. FTX made headlines with a naming rights deal with the Miami Heat National Basketball Association, and the team just ended. There is also a 2022 Super Bowl ad featuring actor and comedian Larry David.
But things fell apart when the FTX of the Bahamas announced on November 11 press release he filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid reports of an $8 billion bankruptcy and possible hacking. Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO, although he will remain with the company during the transition.
Bankman-Fried is a big figure in Democrats and left-wing causes, but she has also donated to Republicans, records show. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian official and CEOs of companies involved in the Ukrainian cryptocurrency donation scene dismissed the accusations in social media as “false” and “propaganda.”
Bankman-Fried contributions
Bankman-Fry tweeted November 5 he was a “great gift” to Democrats and Republicans in the primaries. Bankman-Fry tweeted and CEO Ryan Salame helped set up a political campaign to receive cryptocurrency donations, giving millions of dollars to Senate and House Republicans.
Federal Election Commission reports say Bankman-Fried has donated money to candidates from both parties, though most of her donations have gone to Democratic candidates and their PACs. to Democracy in 2021 and 2022. Includes $27 million to Protect Our Future. PAC, which supports most Democratic candidates and $6 million to the House PAC, which supports Democratic House candidates.
FEC reports show that Bankman-Fried gave $45,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee and $105,000 to the Alabama Conservatives Fund, among others.
What is the relationship of Ukraine?
A month after Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukraine launched Aid for Ukraine, a website where people around the world can donate cryptocurrencies to help Ukraine.
A tweet from Mykhailo Fedorov, the deputy prime minister of Ukraine and the country’s minister of digital transformation, said at the event on March 14 that it was described as a “beautiful joint project” of the Ministry of Digital Transformation “in cooperation” with FTX and Everstake, a blockchain platform in Ukraine. Platforms allow users to earn rewards on their cryptocurrency accounts by submitting them to the blockchain network, according to CoinBase.
The website has a headline that says “Help Ukraine with crypto, don’t leave us alone with the enemy.” Said to be Everstake, FTX and KUNA. KUNA is a cryptocurrency exchange in Ukraine.
The URL of the donation site was changed on November 1 in the Aid movement for Ukraine that is nothing to do with FTX development.
As of November 15, Aid for Ukraine reported that it had raised more than $60 million. Much of that donor support came early in the campaign, according to a Washington Post report.
The money collected on site will be used to buy troops and other equipment, according to a detailed list of expenses on the website.
Everstake’s press release announcing the partnership in March said “Aid For Ukraine is working with cryptocurrency exchange FTX which converts the received cryptocurrencies into fiat (money issued by the government) contributions are sent to the National Bank of Ukraine.”
Ukrainian officials and companies have denied claims that the country invested in FTX.
Alex Bornyakovdeputy minister of Ukraine for digital transformation, tweeted November 14 says that Ukraine is returning aid to the Democrats in the US as “a story.” He said the fundraising platform used FTX to convert cryptocurrency donations into the country.
“The Ukrainian government has not given any money to FTX,” he wrote.
Michael Chobanianthe founder of KUNA exchange, tweeted November 13 the Aid fund for Ukraine “used FTX in the first month of the war as a barrier” to convert cryptocurrency to Ukrainian currency. “There is no crypto stored on FTX,” he wrote.
Everstake founder and CEO Sergii Vasylchuk denied the allegations in the Twitter threadsays Russian news is “spreading like a virus.”
How much money has the US sent to Ukraine?
Congress has approved $68 billion in aid to Ukraine, according to Mark Cancian, senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
That money is for weapons and military equipment, as well as emergency security and humanitarian aid, and $12.3 billion in aid Ukraine has approved in September.
Cancian said “most (US) aid goes through third parties that are not directly to the Ukrainian government.”
“Most humanitarian aid will go to aid organizations. The purchase of military equipment for Ukraine will go to the contractor,” he said.
Cancian said it was “impossible” that the money could be changed. However, he was not aware of the reports suggesting that there had been any abuse and was skeptical of the Instagram post’s claim. He said only a fraction of US aid has been spent so far, and there are areas of concern. “There is no evidence that this happened,” he said.
Laws passed by Congress include language related to safeguards for transparency and accountability for funds transferred directly to the Ukrainian government.
Our decision
An Instagram post claimed that US aid money sent to Ukraine is being returned in the form of campaign contributions to Democrats through the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
The former CEO of FTX has made significant contributions to Democrats, but has also given to Republicans. The company’s connection to Ukraine has partnered with a fundraising site called Aid to Ukraine where people can donate cryptocurrency for the country’s war effort. That money will be sent to the Ukrainian government and nothing else.
There is no evidence to support the claim. We set this to False.
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