Posted on 11/19/2022 12:49:19 AM PST by John Semmens
Now that the FTX ponzi scheme has collapsed costing investors billions of dollars in losses, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif), who was photographed posing with FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, was asked if she would give back her share of the ill-gotten gains. She declined, saying that "I didn't know the money I got was stolen. None us us did. I am innocent. Republicans took some of the money too. They are just as guilty as me."
Bankman-Fried blames his girlfriend for the fraud and alleges that his donations to politicians were a manifestation of his "devotion to democracy." In addition to Waters, other Democrat politicians known to have been on the receiving end of his generosity include Rep. Jesus Garcia (Ill), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY), and Reps.-elect Morgan McGarvey of Kentucky, Maxwell Frost of Florida, Sydney Kamlager of California, Jonathan Jackson of Illinois, Nikki Budzinski of Illinois, Jared Moskowitz of Florida and Robert Menendez Jr of New Jersey. Federal Election Commission documents show that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ken) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) also got donations from FTX--some of which was spent to defeat Republicans endorsed by Trump.
FTX paid the NBA's Miami Heat $135 million to rename their Arena FTX Arena. Major League Baseball received an undisclosed amount to name FTX as its official cryptocurrency exchange. This included putting FTX patches on umpires' uniforms. Other paid spokespersons for FTX that have been named in a lawsuit filed on behalf of FTX's defrauded investors include Tom Brady, Gisele Bundchen, Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors, Shaquille O'Neal, Udonis Haslem, David Ortiz, William Trevor Lawrence, Shohei Ohtani, Naomi Osaka, Lawrence Gene David, and Kevin O'Leary.
In other corruption news, the Department of Labor's Inspector General reports that up to $400 billion in COVID-19 unemployment relief dollars were lost to waste or fraud. Secretary of Labor Martin Walsh contended "it's not as bad as it sounds. The vast majority of the wasted and stolen money has likely been recycled into our economy. So, it's not lost. It's merely been redistributed. In aggregate, the total economy is no worse off."
If you missed any of the other Semi-News/Semi-Satire posts you can find them at...
https://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Opinion/336011-2022-11-19-semi-news-semi-satire-november-20-2022-edition.htm
ping
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.