* First, some context from CBS News…

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty on all seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering following more than two weeks of testimony in one of the highest-profile financial crime cases in years.

The 31-year-old former cryptocurrency billionaire was convicted on all seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering, charges that each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. He was also convicted of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud, which each carry a five-year maximum sentence.

“Sam Bankman-Fried perpetrated one of the biggest frauds in American history, a multibillion-dollar scheme designed to make him the king of crypto,” Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a news briefing following the verdict. “Here’s the thing: the cryptocurrency industry might be new. The players like Sam Bankman-Fried might be new. This kind of fraud, this kind of corruption, is as old as time, and we have no patience for it.”

The MIT graduate steadfastly maintained his innocence since his arrest late last year after the startling implosion of FTX, the crypto exchange he co-founded, amid an $8 billion shortfall in funds and allegations he had used customer money to prop up his struggling hedge fund, Alameda Research.

* US Rep. Jonathan Jackson probably owes his 2022 Democratic primary win to Sam Bankman-Fried. The Sun-Times broke the story in June of 2022…

Protect Our Future, a political action committee bankrolled by cryptocurrency billionaire Samuel Bankman-Fried, spent $914,944 to boost three Illinois Democratic primary candidates, including $500,065 for television ads to support Jonathan Jackson’s 1st Congressional District bid, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Protect Our Future spending is what the FEC calls an “independent expenditure,” with the PAC by law prohibited from coordinating or communicating with a candidate’s campaign.

* In addition to Bankman-Fried’s $500K, another crypto front, Web3 Forward, spent $491,250 on pro-Jackson media buys. The Texas Tribune reported that Web3 Forward “is affiliated with the longer-running GMI PAC, whose leading donors have included another top FTX executive,” and it put money into some other races that SBF’s Protect Our Future was involved with last year.

DAO for America also wound up spending $307,998 on Jackson. That super PAC appeared to be working with at least some other SBF-backed candidates elsewhere.

All told, that’s close to $1.3 million dollars in crypto spending on Jackson’s behalf.

The 17-candidate Democratic primary race last year was packed with under-funded candidates, so the independent expenditures were likely crucial to Jackson’s win. Jackson tallied just 28 percent of the vote.

Karin Norington-Reaves was the only other candidate who received major IE support. Forward Progress PAC spent $758,000 on her behalf. The Collective Super PAC spent another $65K. Reeves finished third with 14 percent of the vote, just behind Ald. Pat Dowell.

* Protect Our Future’s involvement in US Rep. Chuy Garcia’s primary made no electoral sense because Garcia didn’t even have an opponent. But Garcia eventually stepped down from the House Financial Services Committee and the independent expenditure haunted him in the 2023 mayoral race. The committee also did an IE for US Rep. Nikki Budzinski, but she won her race with almost 76 percent of the vote, so it didn’t appear to matter much, unlike that Jackson money, which was likely essential.

…Adding… From US Rep. Garcia’s spokesperson…

The Congressman did not step down from Financial Services. His membership was already “waived on” which meant he wasn’t earning seniority in the first place because he had other preferred committees (Transportation).

Because Republicans won the majority, Dems lost seats on the committee. Consequently, those who were ”waived on” were those who lost their places on the committee.