Former FTX CEO Involved in Online Poker Scandal Donates $5,800 to George Santos

Daniel Friedberg, the former “FTX director of regulation” implicated in the infamous online poker fraud scandal, also made the largest possible donation to Rep. George Santos during the disgraced Republican’s successful bid for Congress.

The former FTX executive made the maximum allowable donation of $5,800 to the Santos campaign last June, according to FEC filings.

A Seattle lawyer named Alameda Research, a doomed cryptocurrency hedge fund that went bust with FTX, as his employer.

Friedberg told the Seattle Times, which first reported the campaign donations on Friday, that he donated to Santos on the recommendation of a friend.

Santos has faced bipartisan calls to resign from Congress after it was revealed he fabricated key parts of his resume and biography.

“Obviously he’s a terrible candidate, but I didn’t know that at the time,” Friedberg told the newspaper. He declined to comment further.

The documents showed that Friedberg also donated $2,900 to Michelle Bond, who last year unsuccessfully tried to win a seat in Congress from New York. Bond is the girlfriend of former FTX chief executive Ryan Salame, who last November alerted regulators in the Bahamas to alleged abuses at the company.

The donation to Santos’s campaign is the latest controversy for Friedberg, whose FTX ties have come under scrutiny after The Post and others reported on his previous work as a lawyer for UltimateBet.

The poker site went down after it was revealed that some UltimateBet partners had access to a software exploit dubbed “God Mode” that allowed them to scam millions of dollars from card players from 2005 to 2008. Actor Ben Affleck was among the players who were reportedly victims of the scheme. , which was eventually recorded in the “60 Minutes” segment.

In a leaked audio published in 2013 and still widely available online, Friedberg advised UltimateBet executives on how to minimize restitution payments to victims. Friedberg has never been charged with a crime for his work with UltimateBet and there is no indication that he was ever investigated by authorities or regulators.

He later told NBC News that his meeting with UltimateBet executives was illegally recorded, although he did not deny its authenticity.

Friedberg is listed as eligible to practice law on the Washington State Bar Association website. A search of the association’s online directory revealed no current or past disciplinary action against him.

Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Freed faces up to 115 years in prison on charges of defrauding billions of dollars of client money allegedly used to fund a lavish lifestyle and support risky bets in Alameda. Bankman-Fried is currently under house arrest.

Friedberg, Bankman-Fried are among several top executives or celebrities associated with FTX who have been named defendants in a wide-ranging class action lawsuit filed in federal court in Florida.

According to Reuters, Friedberg has been cooperating with federal investigators on the FTX collapse since November, just days after the platform went bankrupt.

In a filing released last month as part of FTX’s bankruptcy filing, Friedberg said he only became aware of the “$8 billion customer shortfall” on November 7 last year, days before the company collapsed.

“Prior to this disclosure, I had no idea of ​​any customer shortage,” Friedberg said, according to the statement. “My job as a regulatory adviser did not include conducting due diligence on client reserves; in fact, I would have no idea how to do it.”

Friedberg said he left FTX because he “no longer trusted” Bankman-Fried or his closest associates.