The Democratic Party of Oregon recently reached an agreement that saw the fine for failing to disclose the identity of a $500,000 donor reduced from $35,000 to $15,000, with no criminal charges pressed against the party. The donation was linked to the former engineering director of FTX, Nishad Singh, who wanted his name and donation kept confidential. It was later revealed that the party had labelled the donor as Nevada-based crypto-fintech startup Prime Trust.

Singh was found to have donated the largest amount of money to the Democratic Party of Oregon before FTX went bust in October. In March, he pleaded guilty to six counts of criminal activity surrounding the exchange's corrupt doings.

Oregon is among eleven states without campaign contribution limits, and those who support the system assert that transparent donation reporting can mitigate the effect of big contributors. Oregon laws deem the making or accepting of a campaign contribution under a false name, such as in this case, a Class C felony. Punishment for this crime may include up to five years in prison, a large fine of up to $125,000, or both.

For a time, analysts believed that FTX was showing favoritism towards liberal figures, as the exchange had donated $40 million. This was later figured out to be untrue, however, after news arose that FTX's former Co-Head of Derivatives, Ryan Salame, was actually sending funds to Republican causes and conservative PACs to the value of $23 million. Once it had been uncovered, benefactors at FTX were said to have donated huge sums of money to benefit charitable foundations, in an effort to separate themselves from the scandal.

It was during their time at the exchange that FTX and its workers reportedly received $3.2 billion in total payouts, including $587 million to Nishad Singh.



Other News from Today