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This information was puzzling when it first emerged – Santos had no clear connection to FTX, and no apparent interest in crypto or any other issues Bankman-Fried feigned concern about. According to Puck News, though, the explanation for the Santos connection is relatively straightforward. Salame’s girlfriend, Michelle Bond, former CEO of the FTX-backed crypto trade group Association for Digital Asset Markets, ran for Congress in 2022 as a MAGA Republican, in a district near Santos’.