Free Republic

The founder of FTX used executives as cut-outs for donations, prosecutors allege... That Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former chief executive of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX that recently filed for bankruptcy, was aggressively using campaign donations as part of a campaign to woo Washington toward his vision of cryptocurrency regulation was no secret — nor was it a secret that other FTX executives quickly became some of the country’s biggest political donors to both Republicans and Democrats, especially those who work on financial regulation. But a new federal criminal indictment alleges that things may have been even simpler than they...

Former President Donald Trump’s counsel, Christopher Kise, suggested in court Friday that the legal team may consider pursuing a mistrial in the civil suit brought by the state of New York in light of a report from Breitbart News.At the center of the argument is Breitbart News Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle’s report that New York County Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron’s top clerk, Allison Greenfield, “appears to have violated judicial rules preventing officers of the court from making excessive political donations.” (snip)As Boyle reported, it seems Engoron was advised of the violations laid out in a complaint filed to...

The little people might get the wrong idea. I’ll give the Associated Press one cheer for doing this reporting, but only one because they really only care about misbehavior by Democrats when it inconveniences the media. Even so, if you want the champion among politicians of scrubbing all public records of anything the public might not like to see - I present to you, your inevitable Democrat nominee, Hillary Clinton:

In fact, despite his attacks on his party’s donor class and establishment, Cruz, the Texas senator who won last week’s Iowa caucuses, appears to have locked down the support of four of the top six donors ― the Wilks family of Cisco, Texas (the No. 1 donor on POLITICO’s list), New York hedge fund tycoon Bob Mercer (No. 2), Texas energy investor Toby Neugebauer (No. 4) and Illinois manufacturing moguls Dick and Liz Uihlein (No. 6) ― but only one other donor on the list.

Calling it a “pivotal moment,” a band of Latino donors has launched a $20 million campaign to unseat those in the House who stand against President Obama’s immigration proposals and oppose Democratic Party reform bills. The Latino Victory Project is a new political committee — akin to the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund — that’s poised to spend big to oust those in Congress with a large Hispanic constituency but who oppose the immigration policy overhaul that’s being pushed by Democrats, the Los Angeles Times reported. Leaders of the group met just recently with a few dozen of their key...

Earlier this week, the California Fair Political Practices Commission released its top 10 list of the biggest individual political spenders in the state between January 2000 and the end of 2009. It's a lot of money flying around: $266 million from the 10 donors alone. KQED's John Myers summed it up nicely. But if that wasn't enough, just a few months ago, the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, D.C., released a similar, but less-noticed study, which should cement the Golden State's place atop the national political spending pantheon. The study revealed, among other things, that California's tribal gaming...

NY State is trying to do its best to surpass Illinois in Scandals. According to Bloomberg News NY State Attorney General and President Obama's choice for the next NY Governor, Andrew Cuomo took campaign contributions from law firms defending clients who the AG's office was investigating for wrong-doing. Boies Schiller & Flexner LLP, a New York law firm led by David Boies, gave Cuomo $35,000 this year, records show. The firm represents former American International Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer Maurice “Hank” Greenberg in a civil fraud case the attorney general is pursuing. Lawyers defending Dell Inc., Deutsche Bank AG...