The campaign arm of pro-abortion political group EMILY’s List, which up until this month was under the leadership of California Senator Laphonza Butler, had said it would return millions of dollars to FTX clients who were victims of the digital currency platform’s fraudulent actions. Instead, it reportedly funneled more than a million dollars to its pro-abortion parent organization.
According to the Washington Free Beacon, Women Vote, the campaign arm of EMILY’s List that “has been persuading and mobilizing women voters to… vote for Democratic pro-choice women candidates” since 1995, accepted $2.25 million from former FTX executive Nishad Singh. Singh admitted to making fraudulent political donations on behalf of FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried during the 2022 election cycle. As the former president of EMILY’s List, Sen. Butler ran Women Vote and had previously said the group would return FTX money to the victims.
Butler, however, stepped down from Women Vote and EMILY’s List after she was appointed by California Governor Gavin Newsom to the Senate earlier this month. Women Vote has yet to return the money as promised.
READ: CA Gov. Gavin Newsom picks abortion group prez to fill Feinstein’s Senate seat
It did, however, move $1.575 million to EMILY’s List, a political action committee (PAC) that helps elect pro-abortion Democratic female candidates. It also gave $50,000 to America Votes Action Fund, which aims to get liberal voters to the polls.
The Washington Free Beacon reports:
Women Vote’s failure to surrender the FTX cash could raise questions for Butler, who is undecided on whether to run for a full-term next year. It is unclear whether Butler was aware of Singh’s contributions, or the discussions about how to handle his contributions. Butler served as president of Emily’s List from 2021 until California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D.) appointed her to the Senate earlier this month.
In all, Bankman-Fried made about $69 million in political donations in the 2022 election cycle, both under his own name and through two of his employees. He was charged with financial crimes in December of 2022 including campaign finance violations and a “scheme and artifice to defraud” FTX clients by using their money to pay off the debts of his other company, Alameda Research.
