Fried’s Background and Credentials
- Professor emerita of Stanford Law School.
- Joined Stanford Law School faculty in 1987.
- Published over three dozen legal and academic writings. Notable pieces include “The Limits of Personal Responsibility” and “Beyond Blame.”
- Participated in at least 65 academic presentations, including two before the American Bar Association Section of Taxation.
- Member of the Board of Advisors of Stanford University’s Ethics Center.
- Graduated from Harvard Law School and received both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Harvard University.
Involvement with FTX Group
- Official Position: None.
- Role: Primary advisor to Bankman-Fried and other FTX insiders regarding political contributions.
- Key Activities:
- Served as Bankman-Fried’s “point person” for his political contribution strategy from as early as 2020.
- Used her influence to benefit her own organization, Mind The Gap, a political action committee she co-founded in 2018. Served as its President and Chair.
- MTG operated in a “cone of secrecy,” hiding its donors and strategies.
- MTG relied on the FTX Group, Bankman-Fried, and Singh for funding.
- Resigned from MTG after Bankman-Fried’s arrest in November 2022.
Misconduct and Allegations
- Used her access and influence to benefit MTG, often pressuring Bankman-Fried or Singh for funds.
- Played a pivotal role in directing political contributions, often hiding the true source or nature of these funds.
- Benefited from the fraudulent transfer of Debtor property, aided and abetted breaches of fiduciary duties, and was unjustly enriched.
- Involved in the acquisition of a $16.4 million luxury residence in The Bahamas, funded entirely by the FTX Group.
- Bankman directed over $5.5 million in FTX Group donations to Stanford University, Fried’s employer.
- Encouraged certain FTX insiders to make unlawful political contributions, often hiding the true source of the funds.
Quotes
- To SBF: “You know how important this is. We can’t back down now.”
- Describing her relationship with Bankman-Fried: “I’m his partner in crime of the non-criminal sort.”
- To SBF: “need to start thinking through the disclosure issue now to make sure we protect [Bankman-Fried] and FTX. Plays at the state level especially are going to provoke accusations of carpet-bagging.”
- To SBF: “I would counsel strongly against giving in a disclosed form under your own name, both for MTG’s sake and yours. (Of course the obvious and truthful answer to why you are giving the money– to defeat state legislators who are committed to subverting the will of the voters— won’t get you very far with the press and won’t get you anywhere with Republicans.) You could get Nishad or Caroline to contribute to the PAC some of the total amount you are willing to give, but that has its own costs and risks.”
- From Fried: “Since this is going to our 527, and hence is disclosed, I’m assuming that Nishad would be the better person to have his name on it. We’d have a slight preference for that on our end, now that my connection to Sam is publicly known, because we don’t want to create the impression that funding MTG is a family affair, as opposed to a collective effort by many people (including some mystery guy Nishad Singh :)) If that works on your end, I’ll have [an MTG employee] send you instructions.”