Activity tagged "corruption"

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“Deleting Tech Enforcement - Public Citizen”.
Rick Claypool in Public Citizen. Published .
In six months, the Trump administration has already withdrawn or halted enforcement actions against 165 corporations of all types – and one in four of the corporations benefiting from halted or dropped enforcement is from the technology sector, which has spent $1.2 billion on political influence during and since the 2024 elections.
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The scale of Trump's pay-for-access scheme outlined by the Times is mindblowing. Crypto contributions resulting in business deals with the Trump family crypto businesses, oil companies buying influence and later reaping benefits from friendly policies, and a $1 million pardon.

The article only mentions Crypto​.com's $10 million contribution to Trump's super PAC, but doesn't mention that after Trump took office, the SEC dropped their lawsuit against the company. His Truth Social company is now partnering with them to sell crypto ETFs.

When the cryptocurrency entrepreneur Eric Schiermeyer heard that President Trump was holding small group dinners with major donors, he saw opportunity. Mr. Schiermeyer reached out to a lobbyist with connections in Mr. Trump’s orbit, who arranged for him to attend a dinner with the president at his private Mar-a-Lago club on March 1 in exchange for donations to a pro-Trump PAC called MAGA Inc. totaling $1 million. The personal and corporate donations were among dozens of seven- and eight-figure contributions to MAGA Inc. from crypto and other interests revealed in a campaign finance filing on Thursday night that hinted at the access Mr. Trump accords those willing to pay. At the dinner, Mr. Schiermeyer, who had never given a federal political donation before, presented an idea for a cryptocurrency called “U.S.A. Token” that would be distributed to every citizen, according to interviews and a flier he distributed to attendees that sets out details of the proposal. He hoped it could be supported through a federal contract with his company.
Cryptocurrency interests, which have benefited from the Trump administration’s dismantling of a yearslong government crackdown and from the Trump family’s financial interest in the industry, appear to have been the most generous industry, accounting for nearly $45 million in donations to MAGA Inc.An affiliate of the exchange Crypto.com gave $10 million, while the crypto services company Blockchain.com donated $5 million. The venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, who are heavily invested in crypto, gave $3 million each. Ondo Finance, which has a partnership with the Trump family’s crypto company, donated $2.1 million to MAGA Inc., on top of $1 million to Mr. Trump’s inauguration.
“Donor List Suggests Scale of Trump's Pay-for-Access Operation”.
Kenneth P. Vogel and David Yaffe-Bellany in The New York Times.
A new disclosure shows how corporations and individuals, including many in the crypto business, wrote big checks while seeking favor from the president.
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“FCC To Install A 'Bias Monitor' At New CBS To Ensure Network Kisses Trump's Ass”.
Karl Bode in Techdirt. Published .
And with the internet eating major broadcasters’ lunch, it’s very likely that the Ellison family paid billions of dollars for a network whose fortunes are headed to the toilet, and whose viewers are headed elsewhere. They have the potential to create a right wing propaganda bullhorn that rivals Fox News; but it’s just as likely their disastrous management turns the network of Walter Cronkite into a sad, historical footnote.
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Trump speaking to crypto executives while signing the GENIUS Act stablecoin bill: “I got you guys out of so much trouble... They’ve got plenty of cash, and it’s great that you’re on our side.”

Note: I retained Trump’s comments about Biden to avoid taking his statement out of context, but his claim that Biden “dropped all charges” against crypto executives during his (or Harris’s) campaign is false.

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Trump is seeking to direct Americans' retirement funds to a sector in which he and his family are heavily invested.

“Donald Trump set to open US retirement market to crypto investments”.
Jamie John, Stephanie Stacey, and Antoine Gara in Financial Times.
Donald Trump is preparing to open the $9tn US retirement market to cryptocurrency investments, gold, and private equity in a move that would spur a radical shift in the way Americans’ savings are managed.
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Proposal: Make $WLFI Token Tradable General Jul 4 1m WLFI_Team 1d Summary This proposal is presented to solicit community input and formally initiate the tradability of the token. This would mark a major milestone in the development of the World Liberty Financial ecosystem and opens the door for broader community participation, access, and protocol development. ⸻ Proposal Objectives • Make $WLFI transferable, thereby enabling broader community access to governance participation, whether through peer to peer transactions or secondary markets • Transition the WLFI ecosystem from closed to open participation • Enable greater token utility access • Begin the next phase of community ownership and engagement • Align long-term token incentives with protocol adoption and success ⸻ Early Supporter Unlocking • A portion of WLFI supply was sold to early supporters • A portion of these tokens will be eligible to be unlocked upon launch of tradability • The remainder of the tokens will be subject to a second vote by the community to determine the unlock and release schedule • Founders, team, and advisor tokens will not be unlocked initially and will be subject to a longer unlock schedule than early supporters to demonstrate long-term commitment and alignment with the success of the protocol • Timing and any eligibility requirements for unlock to be determined subsequently.
Why Now? Over the last year, WLFI has made significant progress across product development, ecosystem partnerships, and brand awareness. With strong demand from community members and partners, many community members have said that the timing is right to make WLFI tradable and initiate this next chapter in our collective journey. ⸻ Governance & Community Role Following the vote to make the token tradable, WLFI’s governance framework will enable more token holders to participate directly in protocol decisions. This includes voting on emissions, ecosystem incentives, and future treasury actions. This proposal is the first step in handing greater influence to the community. ⸻ Next Steps (If Approved) • Execute and enable transferability • Initiate distribution for eligible early supporters • Begin community governance with a second vote on remaining unlocks • Continue ecosystem expansion and partner integrations ⸻ Voting Options • YES: Proceed with WLFI tradability • NO: Maintain current token non-transferability and closed network status ⸻ Final Note This is a defining moment for World Liberty Financial. The foundation has been laid, the community is growing, and we’re ready to move forward. Launching WLFI as a tradable token brings us one step closer to building a more open, transparent, and powerful financial system. Let’s build it together. — The WLFI Team

The team behind Trump's World Liberty Financial project has proposed lifting restrictions on the WLFI "governance token" to make it tradeable. I predicted shortly after its launch that if Trump succeeded in gutting the SEC, he would do this.

This would lift the substantial restrictions on the token (non-US or accredited investors only, locked tokens with no secondary sales) that were aimed at sidestepping attention from the previous SEC, and could be enormously lucrative for Trump.

It could also be enormously lucrative for early buyers like Justin Sun or the Emirati Aqua 1 Foundation, who hold $75 million and $100 million worth of WLFI, respectively.

Prior to the Trump administration, a token like this would likely have been considered an unregistered security by the SEC, and its sales illegal offerings.