Oregon became familiar with the FTX crypto scam when a $500,000 contribution was made to Governor Tina Kotek’s campaign made in the name of the cryptocurrency startup Prime Trust based in Nevada. However, Epoch Times is reporting that Prime Trust was allegedly used as a “pass-through,” with the funds actually coming from Nishad Singh, former director of engineering at FTX, the now bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange run by Sam Bankman-Fried. The U.S. Department of Justice has charged Bankman-Fried with making millions of dollars in donations in other people’s names using cash from customers’ accounts at FTX.

As part of a widening investigation into Bankman-Fried and Singh, federal prosecutors are now looking into campaign donations to the Democratic Party of Oregon (DPO). But, Kotek’s contributions was peanuts compared to the $14 million that Democrat Carrick Flynn, running for the new 6th Congressional District, received from Prime Trust. It was later revealed that the funds were from Bankman-Fried ($13 million) and Singh ($1 million).

Epoch Times reports six opposing candidates for the 6th Congressional District released a joint statement in April decrying the move. Flynn reportedly received more than twice the outside spending of any other congressional candidate in the nation during the 2022 primary, due primarily to Bankman-Fried’s donation.

Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan launched an investigation in November, after the election, to determine whether contributions were made under a false name by Singh, and whether the DPO broke a state law accepting political donations under a false name. Secretary Fagan refuses to release responses, and says they are trying to determine whether Singh misled members of the DPO when the donation was made, whether someone within the DPO posted the contribution fraudulently, or whether it was an honest mistake. Making a campaign contribution under a false name is a felony.

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A D V E R T I S E M E N T

Epoch Times reports that DPO denied any wrongdoing, “Based upon documentation received from our bank, the DPO reasonably believed that this contribution was, in fact, from Prime Trust LLC,” wrote DPO executive director Brad Martin in a recent statement.

Flynn is also reported to receive “dark-money” from the Guarding Against Pandemics group, run by Sam Bankman-Fried’s brother Gabe Bankman-Fried, which obscures its donors. According to a transcript of a May 14 interview, Flynn told Vox that he’s never met or talked with Sam but is friendly with Gabe Bankman-Fried. Flynn speculated that the support was based on their shared interest in preventing pandemics and the “effective altruism,” a philosophical and social movement to help “all humans, animals and people who are not born yet.”

Despite the unprecedented support, Flynn was defeated in the primary race by Democrat Andrea Salinas who went on to victory in the general election, becoming the first to represent Oregon’s new 6th district.

The bill to reform campaign contributions has again been Introduced by Speak Rayfield and other under HB 2003. However, it only applies to state candidates, but it would limit the governor’s campaign from accepting more than $30,000 in aggregate from a political party multicandidate committee.


--Donna Bleiler

Post Date: 2023-01-15 06:48:28

Last Update: 2023-01-15 10:09:05