Election officials fine Oregon Democratic Party, seek criminal investigation into cryptocurrency exe
Oregon election officials will fine the Democratic Party of Oregon $15,000 and ask the state attorney general to investigate the cryptocurrency executive who gave the party $500,000 last year under a false name.
Thursday’s announcement from the Elections Division of the Secretary of State’s Office followed a seven-month investigation into the $500,000 contribution made by Nishad Singh, an executive at the cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
The Democratic Party of Oregon initially reported the October 2022 contribution, one of its largest, as coming from a Las Vegas-based cryptocurrency startup, Prime Trust, only amending it after repeated inquiries from The Oregonian/OregonLive.
The party later identified the true donor as Nishad Singh, director of engineering at FTX. Singh in February pleaded guilty to criminal charges including wire fraud, money laundering and campaign finance violations and has agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors as they bring fraud charges against the company’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried.
As part of the federal investigation, Singh admitted under oath in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that he made political donations under his own name with money from FTX and Alameda, another Bankman-Fried company, Oregon Elections Manager Alma Whalen said in a statement.
https://oregoncapitalchronicle.com/briefs/election-officials-fine-oregon-democratic-party-seek-criminal-investigation-into-cryptocurrency-executive/
