The financial world is buzzing about the collapse of crypto currency giant FTX. On Friday, FTX filed for bankruptcy protection after losing nearly $30 billion dollars. FTX wunderkind CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has resigned as well. While most of South Florida wondered about the effects of the bankruptcy on the FTX Arena in Miami, REDBROWARD obtained photographs showing the ties between Sam Bankman-Fried and Broward politicians and lobbyists.

In an October 2021 Facebook post, Broward Democrat political consultant Barbara Miller congratulated her nephew, Sam Bankman-Fried, for his “charitable achievements.” Miller is a longtime advisor to numerous Broward School Board Members including Debbi Hixon.

In 2021 and 2022, Debbi Hixon posted pictures from the “FTX Hackathon” events sponsored by the FTX Foundation Group. Teams of South Florida students competed for scholarships paid by Bankman-Fried. In March 2022, one Broward Schools team won $500,000 from FTX.

On Friday, FTX announced it was halting donations by the FTX Foundation Group amid “questions about legitimacy.” Markertwatch reported, “The senior staff of Bankman-Fried’s philanthropic FTX Future Fund publicly quit Thursday night, saying that the fund could no longer operate or process grants, and that they ‘have fundamental questions about the legitimacy and integrity of the business operations that were funding the FTX Foundation and the Future Fund.’”

“The group added, ‘We are devastated to say that it looks likely that there are many committed grants that the Future Fund will be unable to honor.’”

How did Broward Schools, students and School Board Members get involved in the FTX mess?