Liberal PACs and charities that got $260 million from FTX and its executives could be forced to give it all back

* FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried and Ryan Salame pumped millions into super PACs and campaigns.

* The company could deem the gifts "fraudulent transfers" and sue for refunds. It's happened before.

* It's also possible the money is gone. "You can't get blood from a turnip," an election lawyer said.

… But in bankruptcy, nothing is sacred. The same politicians and groups that happily received FTX's donations and welcomed SBF as an influencer in Washington, including Democratic PACs like the House Majority PAC and Women Vote and lawmakers like Debbie Stabenow, could soon find themselves forced to return those funds — and some are already lawyering up.

The law allows the company's new management or a bankruptcy trustee to claw money back even after it has changed hands, said Ilan Nieuchowicz, a lawyer at Carlton Fields.

Some political groups that Bankman-Fried and Salame supported are in a similar situation, with barely any money left. The Protect Our Future PAC, the top beneficiary of Bankman-Fried's giving, has just $570,000 on hand after receiving $28 million from FTX and its execs, and American Dream Federal Action, which Salame supported, has just $1.5 million left.

Michael Toner, a former member of the Federal Elections Commission, said trying to recover money from a pop-up super PAC could be harder than going after a party committee that is active each election cycle, which is what happened in the Stanford case.

"You can't get blood from a turnip," he said. "These political committees, absent any information to the contrary, they're victims in this just as much as anybody else."

In the USA stolen property is stolen property and can be reclaimed by the original owner.

But money is a different kind of property. An example:

Someone sold you a stolen Corvette. You sold it and bought Christmas presents for all your family. Can they come after the presents, or even the cash equivalent - when you no longer have it? That could bankrupt an innocent person, adding to the list of victims.

Don’t get me wrong. You might be right, but if so, it just tells me how unfair our justice system is.

BTW, when I sold commercial real estate back in the early 80’s in Seattle, there was a notorious pair of fellows who did a very interesting real estate scam, and it even hit the news one time. This was the common tale and what happened in that particular story: “Joe’s investments” would buy a house at foreclosure auction (failure to pay property taxes) dirt cheap, and then immediately sell it to “Frank’s construction”, his friend and sort of partner, for a VERY good price.

In the case that hit the news, the reporters interviewed Joe about giving the property back to the poor old lady that was outside the country and came back to see her fully paid for house was sold at auction for tax delinquency. He said, TO THE REPORTER, “It’s out of my hands because I already sold the property.”

That’s why I hinted, in my earlier response, that if the person who got the cash was somehow in partnership with the fraudsters, they should be required to give it back.

That is ridiculous. The only way they can get you to give it back is if they can prove that you were in on the scam........

uh maybe not in bankruptcy if those were gifts then the money was not paid to a creditor

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“But unless the new titleholder paid fair market value for the asset, the transfer is a fraud on creditors. Anglo Saxon law has long held that you can’t give away your property when you have debts.”
https://www.bankruptcysoapbox.com/clawback-in-bankruptcy/

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