Rep. Christine Drazan Wants Investigation of FTX Contribution That Helped Defeat Her in 2022

An
attorney representing House Minority Leader Christine Drazan (R-Canby) has
asked state officials to revisit a large, controversial 2022 campaign
contribution to the Democratic Party of Oregon.

The
issue is a $500,000 contribution that, as The Oregonian first reported, was initially improperly
attributed. Oregon law requires that political contributions accurately
identify the donor. The failure to properly identify a donor can be a Class C
felony.

“Many
Oregonians have long questioned just how expansive and corrupting this huge
donation, one of the largest in Oregon’s history to a statewide political
party, has been to the ordinary processes in our state government,” Drazan’s
campaign attorney, Matthew Wand, wrote to Secretary of State Tobias Read on
Jan. 16.

Christine Drazan on the campaign trail in 2022. Credit: Tim Trautmann

The
$500,000 donation on Oct. 4, 2022, was initially attributed to Prime Trust
LLC, a Nevada financial institution. It was the largest single contribution the
Democratic Party of Oregon (DPO) has disclosed since Oregon began electronic
campaign filings nearly 20 years ago.

The
DPO subsequently amended the filing to identify the donor as Nishad Singh, then
one of the top executives at the cryptocurrency firm FTX.

The
timing and amount of the contribution are an important part of the story. The
money came into the DPO as it was helping Tina Kotek, a Democrat, in her race
for governor against Drazan and former state Sen. Betsy Johnson, who ran as a
nonaffiliated candidate.

FTX,
once among the brightest lights in the crypto industry, collapsed spectacularly
in November 2022, declaring Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 11, three days after
Kotek won the governor’s race.

Singh
pleaded guilty to fraud and campaign finance charges (he acknowledged
making political contributions in his own name with money that should have been
attributed to FTX) and helped prosecutors build their case against FTX founder
Sam Bankman-Fried.

In
Oregon, the secretary of state’s Elections Division fined the DPO $15,000 in a May 11, 2023, settlement in which the agency also agreed to drop any criminal
investigation of the party. (Federal officials subsequently forced the DPO to
give the money back, having determined it came from fraudulent FTX activities.)

In
his January letter to Read, Wand argues that neither the Secretary of State’s office
nor the Oregon Department of Justice was legally allowed to investigate the
contribution because the Democratic elected officials in charge of both
agencies (former Secretary of State Shemia Fagan and former Attorney General
Ellen Rosenblum) had previously gotten backing from the Democratic Party.

“Under
ORS 260.345(2), the secretary of state must refer an investigation to the
attorney general if the complaint concerns any political committee or person
supporting the candidacy of the secretary of state,” Wand wrote. “[The law]
requires the secretary of state to appoint an outside prosecutor to investigate
and prosecute the case if the alleged violation involves a political committee
or person supporting the candidacy of the attorney general.”

Wand
is now pressing for an independent investigation.

In
a Feb. 7 response to Drazan and Wand, Read noted that he had cleaned house
since taking office in January.

“The
deputy secretary of state, chief of staff, elections director, an attorney
working directly for the executive office, and one deputy elections director
who were in charge at the time these issues occurred are no longer employed by
this agency,” Read wrote.

He
added that since Wand was making a legal argument for a new investigation, Read
would need to consult the Oregon Department of Justice, which advises state
agencies on legal matters.

“With
regards to the 2023 complaint related to ORS 260.345 and your assertions that
required statutory processes were not followed by the previous secretary of
state’s administration, those are legal matters,” Read wrote. “Especially given
the concerns you raised about this agency’s compliance with Oregon law, I would
be hesitant to move forward without guidance from the attorney general’s
office.”

The
Department of Justice is in consultation with Read on the letter.

“We
are currently working with the secretary of state’s office to provide them with
guidance and legal advice,” DOJ spokeswoman Jenny Hansson says, “but cannot
share any further details.”

—This story was produced by the Oregon Journalism Project, a nonprofit investigative newsroom for the state of Oregon. Learn more at oregonjournalismproject.org.

This article appears in The Source Weekly February 6, 2025.