CRYPTO’S BONNIE AND CLYDE: The Times’ David Yaffe-Bellany has a piece out today chronicling the rise and very public fall from grace of a onetime crypto power couple: former FTX co-CEO Ryan Salame, who reports to federal prison tomorrow for campaign finance violations, and Michelle Bond, the former head of a crypto lobbying group and former congressional candidate who was hit with campaign finance charges of her own this summer. — “Mr. Salame gave tens of millions of dollars to conservative politicians, who celebrated him as a ‘budding Republican megadonor,’ while Ms. Bond ran for Congress, drawing support from Donald Trump Jr. But this tale of crypto boy meets crypto girl has turned into a legal nightmare.” — “The two were married last month in a small ceremony in Nevada. But their $4 million house in Potomac, purchased in 2022 at the height of FTX’s success, is set to be sold, with all the proceeds surrendered. Mr. Salame has gone from meeting with politicians to skirmishing on X with anonymous trolls. After FTX failed in late 2022, Ms. Bond resigned as the head of a prominent crypto trade group and became a target of federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, the same office that pursued her husband.” THE RECEIPTS ON RECEIPT-FREE REIMBURSEMENT: “House lawmakers expensed at least $2.5 million under a program that allows them to be reimbursed for their spending without submitting receipts through the first five months of 2024, over $120,000 more than they expensed during the same period last year,” The Washington Post’s Jacqueline Alemany and Clara Ence Morse report. — The program, created two years ago, “was intended to help members offset the costs of maintaining two households without requiring them to give themselves a politically toxic raise. But critics of the expense program have argued that its lack of receipt requirements and reliance on the honor system open it up for abuse, and expenses have risen for 2024 despite public scrutiny of last year’s spending.” MEET THE INVESTORS BANKROLLING TRUMP: “Donors from the securities and investment industry contributed a total of $193.8 million to the Trump campaign and outside spending groups supporting him,” Sludge’s David Moore writes — more than any other industry in an OpenSecrets analysis of campaign finance disclosures through Sept. 22. — Donations from the industry, which according to OpenSecrets includes hedge funds, private equity firms and crypto companies, “made up three in ten dollars raised by pro-Trump groups this cycle.” — “The industry has given more than 3.2 times as much to the Trump groups as it has given to groups backing Kamala Harris, according to OpenSecrets. The industry backed Vice President Harris with $59.9 million, though the top pro-Harris super PAC Future Forward has received tens of millions of dollars through ‘dark money’ conduits so it’s possible that there is more money from the securities and investment industry backing her.” — “The largest pro-Trump super PAC, MAGA Inc., received a $21 million haul from investment industry donors in August, according to its monthly FEC filing, making up the vast majority of its contributions that month: $10 million from billionaire Diane Hendricks, $5 million apiece from Wall Street titan Howard Lutnick and hedge fund founder Paul Singer, and $1 million from investment bank megadonor Warren Stephens.” THE NEXT GENERATION OF PI SUBJECTS: After a group of students at a Northern Virginia high school launched a voter registration drive last year aimed at juicing registration among their classmates, WTOP’s Scott Gelman reports that drive has “sparked months of subsequent advocacy,” with the group of students spending “months lobbying Congress to pass the High School Voter Empowerment Act.” — “The legislation would require states to designate public high schools as voter registration agencies and tell schools to have voter registration drives for their students. It would also task the secretary of education with creating grants to reimburse schools for the costs associated with those drives. … Inspired to help remove those barriers for other potential young voters, the students have spent months leaving the Falls Church campus and heading to Capitol Hill.” SPOTTED on Wednesday at a “Taste of Italy” night hosted by Capitol CNCT at the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., per a tipster: David Tennent of Capitol CNCT, Laszlo Baksay of DCI Group, Maggie Allard and Cassie Boehm of Adfero, Julie Mathers of Paylocity, David D'Antonio of Rep. Guy Reschenthaler’s (R-Pa.) office, Aria Austin of Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-Pa.) office, Jasmine Karshenas and Elizabeth Turner of Punchbowl News, Margrette Quinn of the Partnership for Public Service, Maria Giannopoulos of GreekMaria and Toussaint Mitchell of the Senate Cloakroom.
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