A month ago, the Democratic Party of Oregon’s political action committee accepted a big donation: $500,000, or roughly 11% of the committee’s total haul so far this year. It was the largest contribution the committee had ever reported receiving in the 15-year time frame covered by Oregon’s campaign finance database.
Nonetheless, party director Brad Martin said in a statement late Monday that the party accepted the pile of cash without knowing much about its origin. He said the Oct. 4 campaign contribution did not come from the Las Vegas cryptocurrency startup Prime Trust, even though that is what the Democratic Party of Oregon PAC reported to state election officials three weeks ago.
Instead, Martin said, the $500,000 came from Nishad Singh, director of engineering for the cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
The Democratic Party of Oregon acknowledged the true source of the big contribution after repeated inquiries from The Oregonian/OregonLive, starting last Thursday when the news organization contacted the party to inquire what interest the reported donor, Prime Trust, might have in Oregon elections. After The Oregonian/OregonLive asked about the transaction again on Monday, the Democratic Party of Oregon revealed that Singh was actually the donor and amended its state campaign finance disclosure to reflect this.
Under Oregon statute, it is a Class C felony to make a campaign contribution under a “false name.”
“A person may not directly or indirectly reimburse a person for making a contribution or donation, or make a contribution or donation in any name other than that of the person that in truth provides the contribution or donation,” according to the state law. It is also a felony for the entity that receives such a contribution to knowingly report false information about who gave the donation.
On Monday evening, Martin said in a statement emailed to The Oregonian/OregonLive that “on Oct. 4, 2022, the (Democratic Party of Oregon) received a wire transfer contribution from Prime Trust LLC and was instructed that the proper source for campaign finance reporting was Prime Trust LLC. … Based upon documentation received from our bank, the DPO reasonably believed that this contribution was, in fact from Prime Trust LLC.”
Nishad Singh, a 2017 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, is the head of engineering for Bahamas-based cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Mega-donor Sam Bankman-Fried is the firm's founder and CEO.
Last week in the course of reporting on the largest recent contributions in Oregon campaigns, The Oregonian/OregonLive also contacted Prime Trust. The company did not respond by deadline but the story published Friday appears to have prompted the parties involved to acknowledge the true donor, Singh.
“On Friday evening, Oct. 28th, the (Democratic Party of Oregon) received a communication from Nishad Singh that he had made a personal contribution to the (Democratic Party of Oregon) and that Prime Trust LLC was not the donor,” Martin said in a statement. “On Monday, Oct. 31st, the (Democratic Party of Oregon) received further clarification that Prime Trust LLC serves as a commercial transaction processor and, while the (party’s) bank records show it as the actual source of funds, Prime Trust served only in a commercial capacity to process the contribution on behalf of Mr. Singh.”
A spokesperson for Prime Trust contacted The Oregonian/OregonLive on Monday morning to request that the story published on Friday be updated to reflect that “this is not Prime Trust contributing money to the PAC. It’s merely Prime Trust effectuating the transfer on behalf of a customer.”
A mailer by the Democratic Party of Oregon attacking Republican candidate Christine Drazan lists the Las Vegas cryptocurrency startup Prime Trust as a donor. After The Oregonian/OregonLive asked the Democratic Party of Oregon about Prime Trust, the party said it actually received $500,000 from Nishad Singh, director of engineering for the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, not Prime Trust.
It was not the first time this election cycle that Prime Trust was incorrectly reported as the donor to a PAC working to elect a Democrat. In the spring, Prime Trust was initially reported in the PAC’s filing with the Federal Election Commission as the donor of $14 million to a super PAC trying to help Carrick Flynn win the Democratic nomination for Oregon’s 6th Congressional District. Only after a spokesperson for Prime Trust contacted Politico did the super PAC reveal that the big donations came mostly from Bahamas-based FTX’ chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried but also Singh.
Oregon is one of five states with no limits on campaign contributions. Voters approved limits in 2006 and the state Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that contribution limits are allowed under the Oregon Constitution. But Democratic Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum and Democratic Secretary of State Shemia Fagan have concluded they cannot enforce the 2006 limits for reasons they refuse to describe publicly.
-- Hillary Borrud; hborrud@oregonian.com; @HBorrud