White House officials have met with Sam Bankman-Fried four times this year

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Suspected crypto scammer Sam Bankman-Fried reportedly met with President Biden’s aides at least four times this year before he was arrested for fraud.

Bankman-Fried has met with senior White House adviser Steve Ricchetti at least three times in 2022 and met with the president’s 80-year-old deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed once last year, Bloomberg reported Thursday. .

The disgraced founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX met with Ricchetti, who is an adviser to the president, as recently as Sept. 8, according to Bloomberg.

Bankman-Fried’s younger brother Gabriel also reportedly attended a May 13 meeting.

The report further demonstrates the close political ties Bankman-Fried developed in Washington before his stunning fall.

Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed. AP adviser to President Joe Biden, Steve Ricchetti. Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The Washington Free Beacon reported in November that Bankman-Fried was hosted in the West Wing for two meetings with Ricchetti on April 22 and May 11.

The former crypto mogul is accused of defrauding investors of at least $1.8 billion.

Earlier this month, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to say whether Biden would ask his aides to return the accused cryptocurrency scammer’s 2020 campaign contributions.

Bankman-Fried, 30, was a major Democratic Party donor before FTX’s collapse, donating $50,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in October 2020 and another $2,800 directly to the Biden campaign the same month, according to records from the Federal Election Commission.

Two of the meetings took place in the West Wing of the White House in April and May of this year. Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Bankman-Fried also spent $10 million to support the Bidens 2020 campaign through indirect giving.

Ahead of November’s midterm elections, Bankman-Fried donated some $39.2 million to congressional Democrats, a total beaten only by leftist billionaire George Soros. Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York charged Bankman-Fried earlier this month with eight counts, including conspiracy to commit campaign finance violations.

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