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New campaign finance filings show Senator Wyden and Rep. Hoyle have belatedly purged their campaign coffers of legally and/or politically suspect contributions

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle each handed over to U.S. Marshals campaign contributions they pocketed in 2022 from executives of now-bankrupt crypto currency firm FTX. (Photo courtesy KMTR, Eugene, OR)

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden and U.S. Representative Val Hoyle (both Democrats from Oregon) have, at long last, purged their respective campaign coffers of illegal contributions from executives of crypto currency firm FTX, according to recent campaign finance filings.

Wyden’s campaign reported that on May 5, it disgorged (the legal term for paying back ill-gotten gains) to the U.S. Marshals Service $2,900, the same amount the campaign received from Sam Bankman-Fried, then FTX’s CEO, on October 26, 2022. Bankman-Fried and fellow FTX executive Nishad Singh made numerous large donations, mostly to Democrats, in fall 2022. FTX filed for bankruptcy November 11. Singh has pleaded guilty to federal campaign finance fraud charges, and is believed to be cooperating with federal prosecutors in the upcoming trial of Bankman-Fried on similar charges.

Oregon Roundup first reported Bankman-Fried’s contribution to Wyden, who also received contributions from Gabe Bankman-Fried, Sam’s brother, in spring 2022 and from their father, Stanford law professor Joseph Bankman, way back in 2010. Gabe and Joseph are both the subjects of the same federal investigation that generated the charges against Sam.

In February, FTX’s bankruptcy trustee asked campaigns to return political donations from Sam Bankman-Fried to help pay FTX’s allegedly defrauded creditors. In March, the U.S. DOJ demanded the campaigns turn Bankman-Fried contributions over to U.S. Marshals, because the “donations represent the proceeds of Bankman-Fried’s crimes.” On April 16, Oregon Roundup observed that Wyden still held onto the Sam Bankman-Fried contribution.

The Bankman-Fried contributions are not Wyden’s only connection to FTX. Oregon Roundup again first reported that in September 2022, Wyden’s contract fundraiser - introduced as “all things Ron Wyden” to FTX agents - brokered a $500,000 contribution from Singh to the Democratic Party of Oregon. Wyden chairs to Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over federal cryptocurrency regulations.

In spring 2022, Politico observed that crypto currency lobbyists “scored a clear victory by winning over Wyden” on a tax policy important to the industry. The Financial Times reported, ominously in retrospect, that Wyden “urged members of his party to protect crypto innovators despite concerns about fraud and money laundering within the industry.”

The Democratic Party of Oregon recently disgorged the $500,000 Singh donation to U.S. Marshals. Because the party had long ago spent the Singh funds to help elect Democrats to state office, Wyden, Hoyle, Governor Tina Kotek and other deep-pocketed Democrats made up the difference.

Wyden’s spokesman told The Oregonian the Wyden campaign had “no role” in the Singh $500,000 donation to the Democratic Party of Oregon, even though emails show Wyden’s contract fundraiser and salaried campaign staff were all involved in arranging it.

Val Hoyle, a first-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oregon’s 4th Congressional District (Eugene and a bunch of places glad they’re not Eugene), reported both a disgorgement and a donation related to Oregon’s two biggest political fundraising scandals.

Hoyle forked over to U.S. Marshals $2,900, the same amount Nishad Singh contributed to her campaign in September of 2023. Like Wyden, Hoyle previously benefitted from the generosity of FTX executives. Web3 Forward, a political action committee that received big contributions from Sam Bankman-Fried spent over $500,000 in spring 2022 to ensure Hoyle won the Democrat primary for the 4th district seat.

Campaign finance reports show on May 12, Hoyle issued $5,800 to Oregon Tradeswomen, a non-profit that says it provides “opportunities for economic stability through a career in the trades to women and gender non-conforming jobseekers.” Oregon tradeswomen has close ties to union groups and elected Democrats, playing a key role in developing (and reaping the financial benefits of) former Governor Kate Brown’s job training bill.

Hoyle’s campaign spokesperson confirmed to me that the purpose of the $5,800 payment to Oregon Tradeswomen was to dispose of donations in that amount from Aaron Mitchell and Rosa Cazares, representatives of tax-evading and politician-paying cannabis firm La Mota. Mitchell, Cazares and La Mota became politically radioactive when Willamette Week broke the news that a La Mota affiliate contracted with then-Oregon Secretary of State Shemia Fagan for consulting services. Fagan resigned as a result of the scandal.

Hoyle told KOIN news for a report that aired May 4, “I’ve returned all campaign contributions from La Mota owners[.]” Her campaign spokesperson, when asked to confirm the May 12 date of the Oregon Tradeswomen payment, wrote in an email, “Rep. Hoyle returned all contributions to La Mota owners on April 17, 2023 - however the check wasn’t received - so on May 12, 2023 the campaign issued those funds to Oregon Tradeswomen.”

The spokesperson did not specify how many checks were issued, and if more than one, which check was not received - Hoyle reported Cazares and Mitchell contributions separately, and in different amounts.

Cazares’s and Mitchell’s donations to Hoyle’s congressional campaign are just a piece of the relationship between the three. Willamette Week reported that when Hoyle was Commissioner of the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries, the job she held before serving in Congress, but also in the thick of her congressional race, she helped direct a $500,000-plus grant to ENDVR, a non-profit corporation co-founded by Cazares and partner Laura Vega, to help train cannabis workers.

BOLI approved the grant, which Hoyle repeatedly pushed, in August 2022, after Cazares and Mitchell donated to Hoyle’s congressional campaign but before the couple became politically toxic. For her part, Vega, Cazares’s non-profit cofounder, donated $1,000 to Hoyle’s congressional campaign, the biggest federal donation Vega has made.

BOLI this year, under new leadership, revoked the ENDVR grant, and clawed back the unspent funds, because the grant, which incorporated federal funds, was illegal. Cannabis remains illegal under federal law.