Garcia tries to distance himself from indicted crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried

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US Representative Jesus Chuy Garcia said on Friday he had never met or spoken to Samuel Bankman-Fried and had no idea why the indicted crypto mogul spent $151,420 on direct mails that introduced Garcia to voters in his newly remapped congressional district.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot blanketed the airwaves with a cartoon ad tying Garcia, the mayor’s apparent frontrunner, to Bankman-Fried and indicted former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan.

He accuses Garcia, a member of the US House Financial Services Committee which regulates parts of the digital asset industry that include cryptocurrency, of secretly speaking with this crypto scammer who stole his clients’ savings and then spent a fortune to re-elect Garcia.

On Friday, Garcia tried to calm the controversy.

Garcia reminded reporters that he was the first Democrat in Congress to return a $2,900 contribution from Bankman-Fried. The mayoral aspirant said he also has nearly four years of experience as a crypto critic on the financial services committee.

I said it should be regulated. That it is volatile. That it endangers our financial system. I’ve sponsored bills and worked with people like Elizabeth Warren on that committee, Garcia said.

Regarding the independent spending PAC funded by Bankman-Fried Protect Our Future, Garcia said: By law and by definition, I have nothing to do with it.

I was unopposed. Didn’t need the money. I have not asked [for] the money. … There was no meeting. I have never met. I never spoke with Bankman-Fried. There was no meeting. It never happened. I have no contact with him. Never had, Garcia said.

Pressed to explain why Bankman-Fried would donate six figures to a member of the crypto regulatory committee who had no opponent, Garcia said, I don’t know. I don’t know the gentleman. I never spoke to him. If he had other drawings, I don’t know.

What strikes me about everything I’ve learned about Sam Bankman-Fried is how many financial experts and investors he duped. And that remains a huge mystery to me, he says.

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Lynn Sweet revealed Bankman-Fried’s contributions to Protect Our Future in late June. At the time, Garcia told Sweet that Bankman-Fried called him earlier that month to discuss pandemic preparedness.

On Friday, Garcia said it was Bankman-Frieds’ brother who called him.

I had a phone call with his brother to talk about pandemics and his brothers’ interest in pandemic preparedness. He noted that I had been very active in advocating for the most affected communities during the pandemic. I talked. I advocated for resources, including… [to] Developing countries. I guess he was interested in that, said the congressman.

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